Emma Pearson - The Chamber of Secrets
by Emmote
Summary: The second book in Emma Pearson's story. This story is written to introduce an OC and remains fairly faithful to canon. If that, or vampires, aren't your thing, perhaps you might want to avoid. This isn't written to be a standalone book, so I recommend you read Emma Pearson - The Philosopher's Stone first.
1. Chapter 1 - The Granger's

_Hello there. Welcome back to Emma's story._

 _As the summary says, this is book 2, and you will be missing out on quite a bit if you haven't read book 1, so I strongly suggest you do so before reading this one._

 _Anyway, enjoy._

* * *

 **Chapter 1 – The Granger's**

So there she was, Emma Pearson, a witch and a vampire, sitting on the roof of a house somewhere in suburban London, well after midnight. It had been quite tricky to get up to where she was, as all the roofs in the area were very steep. She had climbed up using some scaffolding that some neighbours a few doors down had around their house. It looked like they were having an extension built or something.

Emma had made the effort because this was a brand new area, untouched, and ripe for exploring. She was sure that the Granger's, all asleep in rooms just below her, almost certainly wouldn't approve.

The Granger's had kindly offered to let Emma stay at their house over the summer holidays, and she was very thankful for it. Here she would be able to spend time with her best friend, Hermione, instead of being alone and miserable at her orphanage. Even though Mr and Mrs Granger, or Richard and Jane as they preferred to be called, were very nice and welcoming, Emma was still glad to have some time to herself. The previous day had been very long. There had been the train ride from Hogwarts, then the car journey to Hermione's house and all the while, Emma had been nervous. Having to tell your best friend's parents that you're a vampire will do that to you, though they had taken it surprisingly well, particularly Richard.

The car journey didn't take too long, but they were all still able to talk about their exam results, their friends, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, the terrifying experiences with Quirrell at the end of the year, and, of course, Emma's vampirism.

'Well, here we are then.' Jane had said as Richard reversed onto the drive in front of their house.

The three of them didn't think much of it, except maybe Hermione who seemed at least a little bit pleased to be home, however, Emma's face had been filled with wonder. She'd never been inside a proper home before.

She had gotten out of the car with even more nerves, but also anticipation, while Jane went to unlock the front door and Richard got Emma and Hermione's trunks from the boot of the car. After Jane had gone inside, Hermione was almost pushing Emma toward the door, grinning at Emma's expression until they got to the threshold.

It hadn't been very strong, but it was enough to make Emma wince and stagger backwards before falling over. It seemed the Granger's liked to use garlic in their cooking.

'Oh! Emma, I'm so sorry, I forgot.' said Hermione, before raising her voice. 'Mum!'

'What's wrong with Emma?' asked Richard.

A moment later, Jane came to the door looking concerned.

'What's the matter, dear?' she asked, taking in Emma's appearance.

'Can you get all of the garlic in the house and put it... not in the house, please.'

'Garlic?' replied Jane, before realisation dawned on her. 'Oh, yes, of course.'

'Haven't even stepped foot inside and I'm already being an inconvenience.' mumbled Emma with difficulty as Richard was walking by with the trunks.

'Nonsense.' he said, chuckling. 'We haven't used garlic in ages. Come to think of it, I'm not sure why Jane keeps buying the stuff.'

Emma barely heard Jane flit through the house as she got a plastic bag and put the garlic into it, opened all the kitchen windows and then went out to the back garden to dump it into the dustbin. As she returned to the front of the house, she opened the living room windows too.

'There.' she said, finally, as she got to the door, stepping to the side to let Richard by. 'Will she be alright to come inside now?'

'I should be ok.' said Emma, tentatively, as Hermione helped her stand up. 'It was more the surprise than anything else.'

The front hall Emma walked into was quite large. On one side it had the staircase and the other was a corridor leading to, Emma presumed, the kitchen. At the foot of the stairs was a clothes rack where a number of coats, jackets and a couple of umbrellas were hanging. Hermione took off her jacket and hung it up. Emma copied her.

Just by the stairs was another door that led to the living room at the front of the house. It was very spacious, with two small sofas in the middle, facing a corner of the room with a large television. There was also a number of shelves that contained books and other knick-knacks. Then there was the small fireplace opposite the door, above which was a mantel that was covered in family photos.

Before Emma could even take it all in, she was being whisked away toward the kitchen. It seemed Hermione was giving her a tour of the house. This room was much larger than Emma had expected, mainly because it turned out to be a kitchen and dining room combined and made up the entire rear of the house on the ground floor.

'Perhaps you should show Emma where she'll be sleeping.' said Jane, who seemed like she was about to start preparing dinner.

Emma and Hermione looked at each other awkwardly before giggling.

'Mum, Emma doesn't sleep.'

'Really? Not even a little?'

'Really.' said Emma. 'I've not slept in over a year.'

'Wow.' she exclaimed. 'You must be able to get so much done!'

'She would if she didn't spend all her time exploring.' chided Hermione, and Emma grinned conspiratorially.

'Well, show her the spare room anyway.' said Jane, before turning to Emma. 'You can keep your things in there and have a bit of privacy if you need it. Hermione knows to knock before entering someone's room.'

'Oh, I wouldn't worry about that.' said Emma. 'Nobody at the orphanage does, except Mrs Cole.'

Hermione blushed in embarrassment, probably remembering that time in the hospital wing a few weeks ago when Emma had said the same thing, and started herding Emma upstairs. At the top was the bathroom, which was surprisingly small, probably because all three of the other rooms were huge. Even the spare bedroom, which was the smallest in the house, was at least twice the size of Emma's room at the orphanage, and Hermione's room dwarfed the both of them.

There was no mistaking Hermione's room. Apart from its size, it was almost entirely as she expected. The room was decorated sparsely in very light shades of cream. It made the room look even larger than it really was. For furniture, there was her bed on the left side of the room, bordered by a wardrobe and a chest of drawers, while on the opposite side of the room was a small walk-in closet and a study desk. The most obvious feature of the room, however, was the two very large bookcases that were very nearly full.

After being given the tour, Emma went into the spare room, her room, to unpack her things. It took her no time at all to hang up what few clothes she had into the small wardrobe that she was comforted to see had a mirror on the front, just like hers had at the orphanage. It was a familiar touch. Once she was done, she went into Hermione's room, knocking first of course, even if the door was already open, and helped her unpack too. It was no time at all before they were both downstairs in the kitchen with Jane and Richard, continuing their conversation from the car as if they'd never stopped.

It was really fun talking with the Granger's, not like talking to most adults. Emma didn't feel the compulsion to be quiet like she normally did. She particularly liked Richard. He was a bit of a joker and didn't take things quite as seriously as he probably should, especially given his profession. Jane was the more authoritative of the two, but not in a stern way like Professor McGonagall was. Emma could see that Hermione got most of her personality from her mother, but there was definitely a part of her that mirrored Richard too.

After a while, having exhausted the story of how she became a vampire, Emma was beginning to feel like she was intruding. She wanted to let the three Granger's catch up properly, without her getting in the way. Also, if she was honest, she wanted to go outside because the kitchen was starting to stink of human food, and it was making her queasy.

'Uhm... Mrs Granger?' stammered Emma.

'I know I've asked you to call me Jane.' she smiled.

'Yes, sorry, force of habit. Mrs Cole was always insistent I call my elders by their title.'

'That's alright, dear. What did you want to ask?'

'I was wondering if I could go into the back garden?'

'Of course, whenever you feel like it.'

'She'll hold you to that, mum.' laughed Hermione.

'Thank you, Jane.' said Emma, grinning.

Richard got up and unlocked the huge sliding French doors and showed Emma how to open them. They were heavy, but she managed to close them behind herself and focussed on the garden, trying her best not to eavesdrop. The garden was quite spartan, kind of like the house. It was mostly just a grass lawn with a few colourful plants along the borders, with a small lonesome tree near the back that was blooming with bright white petals. It was while out in the garden that Emma had noticed the scaffolding a few doors down.

The rest of the evening, after the Granger's had had their dinner, was spent in the living room watching the television. Hermione was reading, but as Emma had never had a television before, she was engrossed, though it wasn't long before Hermione excused herself to go to bed. After that, Emma got talking quietly with Richard.

'So what do you normally do at night if you can't sleep?' he asked. 'It must get pretty boring by yourself.'

'Yeah, it can do.' said Emma, thoughtfully. 'But the worst part is that if I stay in one place too long, I start to feel... caged... and then I can't help it, I have to get out. Because of that, I explore.'

Richard nodded. 'So if Jane and I asked you to stay inside while we're all asleep, you...?' he said, trailing off.

'I'd try, but I know I wouldn't be able to promise that.' said Emma, honestly, and Richard nodded again. 'Especially not when there's a whole town outside I've never seen before!'

Richard chuckled and Emma could see Jane smile out of the corner of her eye.

'Your matron warned us about that, and Hermione said you were an inquisitive one.' he smiled. 'I can see why the two of you became friends.'

Emma smiled and ducked her head, embarrassed.

'And I'm very glad you did.' said Jane, softly. 'She never made any friends in middle school, and I was afraid it would continue into high school.'

'I never had any friends either, and I think that's how Hermione and I ended up being paired in class all the time.'

'Why didn't you make friends, if you don't mind me asking?' said Jane. 'I'm afraid Hermione got her busybody personality from me, which never wins people over, but what of yourself?'

'Not never, dear.' smiled Richard, taking one of Jane's hands.

Emma couldn't help but smile at that, and it wasn't helped by the smirk she still had from Jane calling Hermione a busybody.

'Yeah, Hermione can be a bit bossy and up front, but I like that about her. I guess she's the opposite of me in that way. I've been told I'm too... detached. I like to be alone and hate attention.'

'So that's why she made you stick your hand up in class?' grinned Richard. 'She was a bit vague about that.'

When Emma just made a disgusted expression, he guffawed.

' _Richard!_ ' chided Jane, in a loud whisper. 'Hermione's asleep.'

'Sorry, dear.' he whispered back.

'No, it's alright, she's still awake, reading.' said Emma. 'I can hear her turning the pages occasionally.'

'Wow.' mouthed Richard, shaking his head. 'You can hear that from down here? I still can't believe you're a vampire. A real, live vampire. You look so normal.'

'Well, Hermione looks normal too, and she's a witch.' smiled Emma.

'That's true.' he chuckled, before frowning. 'Yeah, we're still not used to that. That magic is real. It's all so alien. We're trying to be supportive, of course, but it's a lot to take in.'

Emma nodded. 'It's a pity we can't show you the magic we learned, it might make it easier.'

'Maybe.' said Jane, yawning.

'Perhaps we should go to bed, dear.' said Richard, and Jane nodded.

They both stood and looked at Emma who was still on the sofa.

'We're not going to ask that you stay indoors as we've already spoken about that, however, I _will_ ask you to be careful.' said Jane, in a serious tone that reminded Emma so much of Hermione. 'Mrs Cole is trusting us to keep you safe, and we wouldn't want anything to happen to you either.'

'Now that, I _can_ promise.' replied Emma.

'Good.' said Jane with a lighter tone. 'Feel free to leave the TV on quietly, if you want. Good night.'

'Night Jane, night Richard.'

Back in the present up on the rooftops, sitting with one leg over each side of the ridge, leaning against the chimney stack, Emma realised why Hermione loved her parents so much. They were there for her, no matter what. Emma supposed that all parents should be like that, but hers certainly hadn't been. The only thing Emma knew about her own parents was what her mother looked like, and that was only because of the Mirror of Erised.

Due to her lack of parents, Emma had expected to feel jealous of Hermione while staying here, and maybe even feel alone, like she sometimes did at Hogwarts, however, instead she had feelings she'd only ever felt once before.

' _I guess this is what it feels like to have a family._ ' she thought.


	2. Chapter 2 - Clothes

**Chapter 2 - Clothes**

Emma spent all night up on the roof. She had been meaning to just use it as an opportunity to get a good look at the area, to give her an idea where to explore first, but she got distracted. The only landmark of note that Emma could see was a church steeple, sticking up above the sea of houses. She couldn't see anything else as her perch wasn't high enough to get a good lay of the land. She thought that climbing the church might be trickier than getting onto a house roof, but it would give her a better vantage point. A quick peek at a map might not go a miss either.

It was then that Emma thought that that would be cheating. Hogwarts didn't have a map and she'd learned most of it's secrets just fine. She would do the same here at the Granger's. It was much more satisfying that way.

' _Maybe I should make my own map._ ' thought Emma.

Of course, that thought led to another that questioned why she would make one of a muggle area that had already been mapped, she was an explorer after all. She decided that she would map somewhere that, as far as she was aware, hadn't been mapped before, somewhere said to be unplotable; Hogwarts.

A map in and of itself would be mostly useless to Emma though. She had a perfect model of Hogwarts in her head and could plan a route from anywhere, to anywhere without even really having to think about it. That said, perhaps she could enchant the map, to reveal passwords of secret entrances, or even show where people were. The possibilities were virtually endless, and a map like that would be invaluable, not to mention that it would be incredibly enjoyable to make. The charms involved would certainly be difficult to find, and complicated, and learning them would be a challenge. She knew she'd have to ask for Hermione's help, after all, she knew the Hogwarts library almost better than anyone.

Emma was still leaning against the chimney stack, as still as a statue, planning out how she would draw her map. The school had many floors, turrets and dungeons, so it would be virtually impossible to put onto a single piece of parchment. There would have to be layers that could fold in or out as needed to allow for easy navigation.

She was just picturing how best to achieve that when the loud bark of a dog distracted her. The sun hadn't risen yet, however, there was a muggle on the street below, taking his dog for a walk. It was a good job he didn't look up as Emma was very conspicuous where she was, even if she was mostly wearing black.

She stayed on her perch for another hour or so, even after the sun had come up and started hurting. It was still fairly cloudy though, so it was easy to put up with. Emma found herself people watching as a number of other muggles passed by during that time. There were a couple of other dog walkers, a few joggers and some taking their cars to who knows where. None of them saw Emma though, and she thought that none of them would have, even if she wasn't using her vampire ability to avoid being seen. The muggles never looked up.

When it started getting busier in the street and nearby houses, as all the humans were waking up, she heard Jane and Hermione below her, in the kitchen.

'Do you know where Emma is?' asked Jane, concerned.

'Probably still out exploring,' said Hermione, sleepily, opening the back doors of the house. 'She's usually back before I wake up, though. _Emma!_ '

'Do you think she heard you?'

In answer, Emma lifted up her right leg and looped it over the ridge of the roof to face the back garden and slid down before jumping off to land on the grass a short distance in front of Hermione with a soft thud. She always loved the feeling of falling.

'Morning.' she said before laughing at Hermione's expression.

It wasn't as good as that time she made Harry jump, but that had been in the Forbidden Forest, after sunset. This was a bright sunny morning in suburbia. Still, the look on Hermione's face was priceless.

'Emma... you...' chided Hermione, lost for words, hitting Emma on the arm. ' _Don't_ do that!'

'Sorry.' grinned Emma. 'It was too good to pass up.'

Hermione shook her head before smiling too. 'You're incorrigible.'

They both turned then to Jane who had gone very pale. That made Emma instantly regret what she'd done.

'I'm sorry, Jane. I sometimes don't think before I do things.'

She lowered her head guiltily, while Jane recovered herself.

'That's... alright, I suppose...' she stammered. 'You were on the roof? What if someone had seen you?'

'Oh, they wouldn't. I'm really good at hiding. I can show you if you want.'

Jane nodded slowly, a little confused, and then Emma disappeared from where she was standing, however, Jane didn't notice. That was because Emma wasn't invisible, she was _unnoticeable_. Her ability made it so that everything else suddenly became more important, or rather, she became very unimportant. Jane could still see her, but was no longer able to think about her, as if she didn't exist.

Hermione, who was used to the ability by now, knew that Emma had used it and could concentrate enough to not be affected, though it was difficult. She had called the ability a notice-me-not charm, and it worked incredibly similarly to the muggle repelling charms that they'd both read about. It was probably because of that that Jane looked very disorientated and was looking around as if to question why she and Hermione were outside in the garden. That made Emma feel even more guilty, so she made herself noticeable again.

'Was that magic?' she asked after a few moments of confusion. 'I thought you weren't allowed to do that at home?'

Emma smiled at the use of the word home, especially as it was directed at her. There was that strange feeling again.

'No, it's not magic, or at least, not in the normal way. It's just something I can do because I'm a vampire.'

'That makes sense.' said Jane, thoughtfully. 'As a predatory species by nature, something like that would make hunting significantly easier.'

It was Emma's turn to be confused. She'd never truly been called a predator before. She knew that she was, of course, but since she received the blood she drank from a bottle, given to her by Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid, she'd rarely felt like one.

'I never thought of it like that. I've just been using it to hide, to not get in trouble.' she said. 'I'm a pretty rubbish vampire, aren't I?'

Hermione just rolled her eyes and the three of them walked back into the house. Emma sat down at the dining room table as Hermione busied herself making some cereal.

'Aren't you going to change, Emma?' asked Jane.

'Change?' replied Emma, confused.

'Clothes.' clarified Jane. 'You wore those yesterday.'

'Oh.' said Emma, thinking. 'I would, but I don't have enough clothes to even last me a week if I wear something different every day. Especially not after those hateful centaurs put two holes in my favourite blouse.'

Jane was going to reply, but that last sentence made no sense, and that gave Hermione time to speak first.

'You could borrow some of my old clothes if you want. They'll probably fit you since you're shorter than me.'

'I'm not that much shorter than you.' sulked Emma.

She stood up and moved next to Hermione, but when she saw that her eyes were barely level with Hermione's chin, she collapsed back into her chair in a huff.

'Or I didn't used to be.' she pouted. 'I haven't stopped growing, have I?'

'I don't think so. That black dress you wear a lot; it looked a lot bigger on you when we first started school than it does now.'

Emma nodded half-heartedly. She wasn't normally so touchy about her height, after all, she didn't care if she was short, in fact, she quite liked it. What really plagued her mind was the idea that vampires didn't age. It was typical of nearly every muggle vampire story and she hadn't read nearly enough books from the magical world to know whether it was a myth or not. There was also the constant reminder that Emma wasn't a normal vampire, which meant that books couldn't be counted on to be correct. The fear that she would be stuck as a 12 year old for the rest of her life, however long that might be, worried her deeply.

'We can go up and see if anything fits when I've finished.' said Hermione between mouthfuls.

'That's a very good idea, sweetheart.' added Jane. 'I was thinking of giving some of our old clothes to charity, so if you don't want them Hermione, Emma, you're welcome to keep them. And if you can't find anything, we can go shopping during the week to get you something.'

When they were in Hermione's bedroom, Hermione took out a load of clothes from her wardrobe and drawers that Emma didn't recognise. It seemed that Hermione hadn't taken them to Hogwarts.

Emma immediately picked out a long, black, lace dress that had a strange style of sleeves that trailed well beyond the wrists, nearly to the floor. It didn't look like anything Hermione would ever wear.

' _You_ wore this?' asked Emma, holding it up in front of herself at the mirror.

'Yeah...' giggled Hermione, embarrassed. 'It was for Hallowe'en two years ago.'

'Ahh, that makes more sense.' smiled Emma. 'It's really beautiful.'

'It looks better on you than it ever did on me.' encouraged Hermione. 'It goes well with your hair.'

That was certainly true. Hermione's brown bushy hair probably wouldn't go very well with the dress, but Emma's was very long, straight and jet black, which fit nicely.

They put it to the keep side and kept looking. After about an hour, Emma had more than tripled the amount of clothes she owned. Most of them were black or dark in colour and upon noticing that, Hermione tried to suggest Emma wear a few brighter coloured clothes, like a flowery pink thing, but had to laugh when Emma just cringed at it like it was made of garlic and immediately threw it into the charity pile.

'So what do you want to do next?' asked Hermione, sitting on her bed next to Emma after they'd gone through everything.

'I don't know. I guess we should get our homework out of the way first.'

'I was going to suggest it,' smiled Hermione. 'but I didn't think you'd want to.'

'Better to do it now than leave it to the last minute like we both know Ron will.'

'Yes.' frowned Hermione. 'We'll have to keep reminding him about that.'

'Oh, by the way.' said Emma, distracted. 'I know what you did last night, going to bed early, letting me talk to your parents alone. Thank you.'

Hermione grinned. 'You heard me reading, didn't you?'

'Yep.' nodded Emma.

'Well, I was just returning the favour, from when you left us alone at dinner time. So, thank you too.'

'That's alright.' replied Emma, embarrassed again. 'You know I don't like to intrude.'

'I know.' smiled Hermione, patting Emma on the arm, before looking concerned. 'You do like it here though, don't you?'

'I love it! The house is amazing, and your parents are wonderful. Really, really, thank you for asking them to let me stay.' said Emma, giving Hermione a hug.

'You're welcome.' replied Hermione, smiling. 'It'd have been no fun without you here anyway, even if you _did_ make me jump this morning!'

Once they had packed all of Emma's new clothes into her wardrobe, she got changed. She chose a short, black, pleated skirt and a simple white shirt.

'You know, that's basically my uniform from middle school.' said Hermione. 'All you're missing are the white socks and a blue cardigan.'

'Really?' asked Emma, surprised and with a hint of jealousy. 'Mine was an awful daisy yellow gingham dress.'

'I would like to have seen that!' laughed Hermione.

'I'm really glad you didn't.' pouted Emma. 'Come on, let's get some homework done.'

The two of them spent most of the rest of that day doing their homework at the dining room table. They'd covered it in parchment, books, inkwells and spare quills. Emma decided to complete her Potions and Charms homework first as they were by far her favourite subjects, and therefore easiest. They kept working until Jane wanted the table cleared for dinner, yet they still got quite a lot done, even if they did get interrupted twice before then. The first time was Richard, having just finished reading a newspaper in the living room.

'What are you two doing?' he asked, curious, when he entered the kitchen.

'Dad,' moaned Hermione, slightly peeved at losing her train of thought. 'we're working.'

'You've been home less than 24 hours and already doing homework. Why am I not surprised.' he chuckled. 'You've got all of the summer holidays to finish it, and you're doing it now?'

'Might as well,' said Emma. 'Means we won't have to worry about it later.'

'You two really are very similar, aren't you.' he laughed, shaking his head. 'I guess I'm outnumbered.'

'Yes, Dad, love you, bye.' said Hermione without even looking up from her work, which earned her another laugh from Richard and Emma.

The second interruption came in the form of an owl, or at least, that's what Emma thought it was as she heard it fly toward the back doors of the dining room. Emma jumped up quickly, startling Hermione and Jane, who had started preparing a Sunday dinner, and wrenched open the sliding doors to let the creature in. It promptly landed, or rather, crashed, onto the table, narrowly avoiding spilling ink everywhere.

'What is it?' asked Jane.

'Looks like an owl.' said Hermione, not wanting to touch it. 'Is it dead?'

'No.' said Emma, shaking her head. 'It's still got a heartbeat, though it doesn't sound healthy at all.'

Emma walked over to the owl and lifted it up, carefully, to set it on it's feet, when Hermione spotted a letter attached to one of it's legs. It was from Ron. The two of them looked at each other, curiously. Neither of them had expected to hear from Ron so soon.

' _Dear Hermione (and Emma?),_

 _Hope you both got home ok (Emma is staying at yours, right?)._

 _Asked mum if you can all come over soon, but I think she forgot. Will have to ask again._

 _And sorry about Errol, he's a ruddy menace. Ancient thing is always flying into things or falling unconscious, the stupid bird. Just give him a bit of food and he'll be fine._

 _-Ron_

 _PS. Did we get any homework?_ '

Hermione rolled her eyes and Emma shook her head. 'Ron.' they both said, as if that was all the explanation needed. It turned out Errol did fall unconscious, just like Ron said he would, and it took a couple of hours, and a bit of the Sunday roast chicken, before they could send him back to Ron with a reply, and the two of them felt incredibly guilty for doing so, the poor animal.


	3. Chapter 3 - Worries

**Chapter 3 – Worries**

'What's wrong?' asked Richard to a very distracted Emma.

The four of them were in the living room again after dinner. Both Jane and Hermione were reading, and it seemed like this was routine for them. Richard, however, had been watching the news, but now he was curious as to why Emma had suddenly looked as if she was terrified. Only moments ago she had been bubbling with anticipation, obviously impatient to get out and explore, but now she was staring at a wall and wrapping her arms around herself, trying to make herself smaller. Hermione had noticed too as she had been trying to persuade Emma that it wasn't rude to go out before they'd all gone to bed, but it hadn't worked.

After Hermione noticed the dark look on Emma's face, she put her book down and sidled closer to Emma to hug her and whispered under her breath so her parents wouldn't hear. She knew exactly what Emma was thinking as that look had been on her own face plenty of times in the past few weeks.

'I'm fine, Emma. I'm right here and safe, thanks to you.'

It took a while for Emma to recover, though she wasn't the same as before, tainted as she was by the memory of Hermione being hit with the Cruciatus Curse, the one where she was writhing on the floor screaming. In reality, the curse had only been active for a few seconds, but to both Hermione and Emma, it had felt a lot longer than that. Hermione was sure that Emma was having a worse time of it than she was, mainly because all she could remember was the pain, but Emma, thanks to her improved senses, could remember every single little detail from the sound of Hermione falling to the floor, to the way her muscles had twitched, and the pitch of her scream. Of course, Emma disagreed. She had gone up to the dormitories at Hogwarts a couple of times, after hearing Hermione have nightmares, and stayed with her until she'd calmed down and fallen back to sleep, so she knew Hermione wasn't coping very well either.

It wasn't something they'd spoken to Richard or Jane about, and instead opted to give the same story that they had told Harry and Ron. Hermione wasn't happy with keeping something from her parents, but these tense moments were the closest she and Emma ever came to talking about it. It was just too sore a subject, and they avoided it as much as they could.

'I was just remembering the time I attacked Hermione.' said Emma, flatly.

She didn't want to tell the truth, but given the reaction she'd just had, she thought she wouldn't be able to avoid a difficult subject, so she gave a different memory instead. The two memories were closely linked in her mind as two of her worst, and that was saying something. The others all included her death, which wasn't something she felt that Richard or Jane were ready to hear, so she went with the least worst option.

Hermione's parents were very shocked when the two of them had to explain what happened, but their worries were mostly assuaged when Emma and Hermione had said that that was the moment the two of them really became close friends. They also started laughing when the two girls started bickering, blaming themselves for what happened and not letting the other claim responsibility.

'So, what are you planning to do tonight?' asked Richard to Emma, trying not-so-subtly to intervene.

'Think I'm going to climb that church down the road, to see if I can get a better view of the area.'

'The church?' wondered Richard.

'Mmhmm.' affirmed Emma, nodding. 'It's the tallest building I could see from the roof.'

'Is that going to be safe for you?' he asked, genuinely concerned.

'Wouldn't worry about her falling off,' said Hermione, smiling again. 'she's like a cat, always landing on her feet.'

'Well, I wasn't worrying about that, though I am now.' muttered Richard. 'I mean, is it safe for you to go to a church as a vampire?'

Emma turned to Richard and blinked in shock. She then turned to Hermione who had lowered her book again, a thoughtful expression on her face.

'I've absolutely no idea.' whispered Emma, losing her voice.

She hoped that vampires turning into a pile of ash upon walking onto holy ground was just another muggle myth, the same way she hoped vampire ageing was, but Hermione took a more sceptical view.

'Dad, I think you've been watching too much TV.'

'So, it's not true?' he asked.

He really was concerned, and again Emma felt that strange feeling, the one that told her she was being cared for.

'I don't know for sure, but nothing we've read in any book at Hogwarts has even mentioned religious buildings being a danger to vampires.' said Hermione. 'And then you have to remember, that Emma's not a normal vampire. We're sure she was born, not turned, and as far as we've been able to tell, she's the only one. So even if it were true, it might not be for her.'

Richard nodded, seemingly put at ease, before smirking, his curiosity again getting the better of him.

'So, if you were born a vampire, does that mean you're a descendant of Dracula?'

Hermione and Emma giggled. The thought had occurred to the both of them, not long after Hermione had found out about Emma's affliction, and they had made an effort to read about the enigmatic Count. His name had actually been Vlad Drakul, but the squib Bram Stoker had changed it in his work to not get caught out by the Statute of Secrecy. The only known child of Drakul had been his son, Vlad the Impaler, but there was no indication on whether the son had become a vampire too, so their research had hit a dead end. That meant that Emma and Hermione weren't able to discount the possibility, but they thought it unlikely, and speculation would get them nowhere.

'We don't think so.' replied Emma.

The conversation lasted a while longer, but Hermione excused herself again, to read upstairs. It was clear she wanted some peace and quiet. Emma knew that feeling well and decided to do the same. She was itching to finally explore, though maybe not as much as earlier. She was apprehensive about the church after what Richard had said, but she was still going.

Emma followed the main roads toward the church, using them as a guide. As with Hogwarts in the first few weeks there, she took many detours along the way, and she didn't even reach the church until nearly three o'clock in the morning, though it turned out to be a big let down in almost every way. She was thankful for the drainpipes on the side of the building that were very easy to scale, as well as not currently being a pile of ash, but that was it. The steeple turned out to be impossible to climb as there was nothing to gain purchase on, and after half an hour, she had to call it a loss and move on. She just went back to following the main roads, spiralling out from the Granger's house.

When the night was over and the sun was threatening to rise, Emma went back fairly pleased with her trip. The church had been a bust, and there hadn't been many interesting places in the dense housing estate, however, she had found a few things of note. Just around a corner from the Granger's was a small field that contained a children's playground with swings, a slide and a roundabout. It seemed to be a popular spot for all those dog walkers. There were also some muggle corner shops a little further away. The most interesting, and useful, thing Emma had found, however, was the Owl Post Office. She had only found it due to the amount of owls that were flying overhead, which made her curious enough to go quite far out of her way to investigate.

The Owl Post Office was just like any muggle Post Office, only they used owls. You had to pay to get anything sent, and the further the owl would have to go, the more expensive, so it wasn't as good as having your own owl, but at least it was there for those that didn't.

Both Emma and Hermione wanted to send a letter to Harry, but they had been expecting Hedwig, Harry's owl, to turn up at any moment so that they could send a reply back with her, but it seemed that Harry wasn't in any rush to talk to them.

The next few days went mostly the same as the previous. Emma and Hermione worked on their homework, trying to finish it off quickly. Jane and Richard had to go to work as Monday had come around. They had no problem leaving the two girls alone in the house as they were mature enough to not get up to any trouble, and they were more than capable of looking after themselves. Jane actually felt more comfortable with it than she had the previous year as she wasn't going to be leaving Hermione all by herself.

The girls occasionally took breaks from doing their homework, to watch a film or play cards or just talk. They also went to the Owl Post Office a couple of times during the week to send letters to Harry. Neither letter had received a reply and the two of them were getting a little worried. They knew what Harry's guardians were like, but Harry had insisted that he would be able to deal with them, as they didn't know he wasn't allowed to use magic. He had also promised to write to them as soon as he got home, and Hedwig wasn't one to get lost.

The worry was getting to the two of them by the end of the first week of the holidays. Emma had spaced out twice more to her worst memory, and Hermione had had a nightmare. Luckily, Emma had been downstairs, half watching a film on the TV and half sketching out plans for her map.

She ran upstairs, as silent as a mouse, and crept into Hermione's room. The nightmare hadn't woken her yet, or gotten far enough for her to start screaming, but she was definitely scared. Emma wondered which part of the memory she was reliving, but quickly put aside her own curiosity and sat down next to Hermione's bed. Wondering how best to help without waking her up, Emma decided to take one of Hermione's hands in her own, trying not to jostle her too much, and interlocked their fingers. The effect was immediate and strong, and Hermione started to relax, which surprised Emma. She stopped writhing, her breathing became less laboured, and her heartbeat slowed too, though it took a little longer to react, thanks, she assumed, to the adrenaline. Emma felt somewhat smug that she'd been able to help Hermione for once. Their friendship really did feel very one sided sometimes, and she wasn't sure why Hermione put up with her.

After a few moments, Hermione actually started smiling, and Emma felt very uncomfortable when she had to release Hermione's hand. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, whether it was loneliness, jealousy, or something else when she watched Hermione sleep peacefully. Emma thought that maybe it was because she missed dreaming, but that didn't seem to fit.

When the weekend rolled over, and the Granger's were back at home all day, their breakfast was interrupted by Errol again. It was another letter from Ron, saying that he hadn't heard from Harry all week and that he thought Errol might be to blame. Obviously he hadn't thought that through, as if it was Errol's fault, then they wouldn't get the letter either.

It did, however, solidify their fears. The post owls weren't getting replies either. Hermione, the more self conscious of the two, thought that maybe Harry didn't want to talk to them any more, but Emma, being the paranoid one, thought that the letters were being intercepted, probably by his oppressive guardians. Whatever the reason, it wasn't good, and so the two of them quickly wrote a letter back to Ron saying that they hadn't heard from Harry either and then made a point of asking how he was getting on with his homework. They weren't holding out much hope in either case.


	4. Chapter 4 - Diagon Alley

**Chapter 4 – Diagon Alley**

The second week of the holidays went by in a blur, for the most part. Emma and Hermione had finished all of their homework and were now free to do whatever they pleased. Twice, Jane and Richard had taken a day off work to take the girls out.

On the Tuesday they went to the Natural History Museum and spent nearly the whole day there. Apparently, Hermione had been before, but she had been much younger, and could hardly remember anything, however, Emma had never even heard of it until Jane had said where they would be going, so she was as excited as a kid in a sweetshop.

The two of them enjoyed it very much and they read as much as they could, trying to ignore all the other kids who were only interested in the big fossils and the pretty pictures. It was at times like these that the two of them felt more like Ravenclaw's than Gryffindor's.

The following day they went out again, this time to the London Zoo. Emma, who knew about zoos, but had never been to one, was thrilled to go, but maybe not as much as she had been for the museum. Some of the animal enclosures were very small, and she couldn't help thinking of all the times she had felt caged, which marred her enjoyment. Still, she got to see a lot of animals she had only read about in books, including one of her all time favourites, the beautiful Snow Leopard.

Both Emma and Hermione were glad for the distractions the outings had given them. That Friday would be Harry's birthday, yet they still hadn't heard from him, and neither had Ron. They were all worrying about him, and the only other diversion they had gotten to take their mind off things was the arrival of an unfamiliar owl, on the Saturday morning, that was carrying two letters and a small pouch.

When Hermione had deftly untied the letters and the pouch, they discovered that they were from Hogwarts. Hermione handed over Emma's letter and they read in silence. Emma's letter had two pages, one which said that the pouch was hers and contained her annual fund from the school because of her situation, and the other page was a list of books. Apart from the _Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_ by Miranda Goshawk, the list consisted entirely of books written by a Gilderoy Lockhart, seven of them.

Emma recognised the name as Hermione actually already owned one of his books, _Voyages with Vampires_ , and they had both given it a read. It was quite a good book, though Emma felt that it read like it had been heavily dramatised or embellished, and she really wasn't happy with how Lockhart had apparently made it so that the vampire of the story was only able to eat Lettuce. No matter what the vampire had done, it hadn't deserved that.

'They've given me less this year.' sulked Emma, looking into the money pouch.

'I guess they gave you more for the first year because you needed all the equipment.' said Hermione. 'Now you only need a few books.'

'Expensive books.' replied Emma, looking forlornly at the list. 'I was really hoping I might have enough to buy a pet this year.'

'Really?' asked Hermione. 'What were you thinking of getting? A cat, I presume?'

'Yeah.' grinned Emma. 'I've always wanted one, but maybe an Owl would be better? It would be nice to be able to send letters without relying on the Post Office.'

'I've thought about getting a cat, as well,' said Hermione, smiling. 'a really fluffy one! I'm not sure about it, though. An Owl would be nice too. Ron wouldn't have to use Errol to reply to our letters any more!'

Emma grinned. An owl was sounding better by the minute.

'So, mum, can we go to Diagon Alley tomorrow, to get our school books, please?' asked Hermione in an eager, pleading voice.

'Sweetheart, tomorrow is a Sunday.' said Jane, smiling. 'Richard and I have already taken Wednesday off work, so we can go then. We'll just have to postpone the trip we had planned.'

Jane knew better than anyone what Hermione could get like with the possibility of new books, though Emma recognised it too. It was the same look she got when she had new places to explore.

Hermione sulked, but she was quickly distracted by Emma jumping up and opening the back doors.

'We've got to stop Ron sending Errol! It's cruel.' exclaimed Emma before the owl had even gotten to the house.

His heart was racing from exertion and he was flying far too low, not even making it to the house before he crashed, unconscious, in the garden. Emma picked him up and took care of him, letting him rest on a blanket in the corner of the dining room and putting down some ham for when he came to. She took off the letter and handed it to Hermione while she made sure Errol was alright.

'Ron says he's going to rescue Harry,' said Hermione, despairingly. 'and he's taking Fred and George with him.'

'Oh, no.' sighed Emma. 'I dread to think what they're planning.'

'Me too.' glared Hermione. 'Though, given how long it probably took Errol to get here, I think they've already done it by now.'

'I hope they're all right.'

Hermione nodded in agreement, half-heartedly, worrying just like Emma was. To distract themselves they started writing a reply. As usual, Hermione penned it as her handwriting was far more legible than Emma's tiny script.

' _Dear Ron, and Harry if you're there._

 _We hope everything went all right and that Harry is OK and that you didn't do anything illegal to get him out, Ron, because that would get Harry into trouble too. We've been really worried and if Harry is all right, will you please let us know at once, but please, please use a different owl. Errol is so weak after flying to ours, we're worried he won't make the trip back to you._

 _Emma and I have both finished our school work, of course, and we're going to London this Wednesday to buy our books. Why don't we meet in Diagon Alley?_

 _Let us know what's happening as soon as you can, love from Hermione and Emma.'_

The Wednesday morning, Emma and the Granger's were in the car again, this time driving to the Leaky Cauldron. It took longer to get there though as Charring Cross Road was in a more central part of London than Kings Cross Station was.

'I know where we are now!' blurted out Emma, after they'd gone about three quarters of the way. 'The orphanage is about an hours walk from here.'

'Don't suppose you know of any good parking areas near Charring Cross Road, do you?' asked Richard. 'We got lucky last year and found a free space on a nearby road.'

'Yeah,' said Emma, easily. 'there's loads.'

She spent the next twenty minutes guiding Richard around London to the closest underground parking zone near the Leaky Cauldron, and when they had gotten out of the car, the three of them looked at her expectantly.

'Lead on, then, pathfinder.' chuckled Richard, making Emma grin.

It took them very little time to get to the wizard pub after that, but Emma and Hermione had to take the Granger's hands to lead them inside. The muggle repelling charm was really confusing them. It wasn't until they were inside the door when their glazed eyes regained some clarity and they followed without help to the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron.

Emma was about to open the archway when Hermione put her hand out to stop her.

'Remember, mum, dad, not a word about Emma and what she can do.' she said, sternly.

Yet again, Emma felt that she really hadn't done enough to earn the friendship she had with Hermione, though she was determined to fix that this year.

'Of course,' said Jane, smiling. 'Not our secret.'

When the archway opened, Emma and Hermione looked out over the alley with awe, both of them incredibly happy to be back in the magical world. Richard and Jane, however, looked confused and nervous, their muggle nature unable to really appreciate or accept what they were seeing.

The two girls guided the adults again, through the alley toward a large, grand building, the wizard bank, Gringotts. Emma hadn't gone in the last time she was here as she had already been given money, and the creature standing outside, which Emma now knew to be a Goblin, had dissuaded her from exploring it. Goblins didn't look like creatures you would want to annoy. This time, however, she was with the Granger's, and they needed to go inside to exchange their muggle pounds into Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.

They had just reached the top of the shiny white stairs leading into the fancy building when Emma paused. She was sure she heard a familiar voice.

'Hagrid?' she said, turning, just in time to see a huge figure coming out from one of the side alleys.

Hermione persuaded Richard and Jane to go ahead and change their money while she and Emma would say hello to Hagrid. When Hermione had gotten back to Emma's side, Hagrid moved. He was talking to someone else and they noticed that it was Harry.

'Harry! Harry! Over here!' shouted Hermione, running down the stairs.

Emma kept up easily and the two of them nearly ran into him. Hermione pulled him into a tight hug that Emma could tell was a little tighter than Harry was prepared for. Emma's embrace, however, was a bit more measured. She wasn't as close to him or Ron as she was with Hermione, something else she was planning on fixing this year.

'What happened to your glasses?' rambled Hermione, speed talking. 'Hello Hagrid … Oh, it's _wonderful_ to see you two again … Are you coming into Gringotts, Harry?'

'As soon as I've found the Weasley's.' said Harry.

'They're over there.' said Emma, pointing back down the alley toward the Leaky Cauldron.

Sure enough, running toward them were Ron, Fred, George, Percy and Mr Weasley.

Emma tried to join the conversation, she really did, but old habits about eavesdropping were difficult to break and she found herself looking around the alley while Harry, the Weasley's and Hagrid talked. It wasn't until after Hagrid had left and they had all gone in through Gringotts entrance hall that Emma started paying attention again.

'But you're _Muggles_!' said Mr Weasley, delightedly, toward Richard and Jane who looked as out of place as ever. 'We must have a drink! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing muggle money. Molly, look!'

Mrs Weasley just looked exasperated and dragged her family and Harry with her toward the vaults.

'Meet you back here,' said Ron, before he disappeared into a side room.

'He's a strange one, isn't he,' asked Richard. 'that Mr Weasley?'

'From what Ron has said, he's fascinated with muggle technology.' said Hermione.

'Maybe you could talk with him.' offered Emma. 'You could learn more about magic from him, and he can learn about muggle things from you?'

'What a nice idea.' said Jane. 'And I'm sure the two of you would like to spend some time with Harry and Ron.'

They all agreed, and once everyone was back outside on the marble steps, they separated. Percy, Fred and George wandered off in different directions, Mrs Weasley and Ron's little sister, Ginny, went to buy some robes and Mr Weasley went with Richard and Jane to the Leaky Cauldron.

This left Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron alone to do as they pleased for an hour, until they had to be at Flourish and Blotts to buy their books. The four of them strolled off, directionless, browsing all the shops they could.

When they got to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Harry insisted on buying them all ice-creams, but Emma declined, saying she didn't like ice-cream, and he didn't push it any further.

Emma had told Harry and Ron on their first day of school that she couldn't eat around other people because she had been bullied about the way she ate. She had thought it was a fairly terrible lie at the time, made up on the spur of the moment during the sorting feast. It turned out to be fairly good as nobody had mentioned never seeing her eat, something she was sure would point her out as being a vampire more than anything else.

They spent their hour of freedom mostly staring excitedly into shop windows. Ron and Harry spent a short time drooling outside a Quidditch shop until Emma and Hermione had dragged them off to buy ink and parchment next door.

'Why are you buying so much parchment, Emma?' asked Harry, incredulous.

'No reason.' smirked Emma, innocently, making Hermione giggle.

She knew it was for the map Emma was planning, and she was very interested in helping make it.

The last shop they went into before their hour was up was _Magical Menagerie_. It was the only place Emma had specifically requested to go, so they all followed her inside. Harry and Ron weren't so eager, since they both had pets of their own, but Hermione and Emma had been really looking forward to it. Hermione was more interested in browsing for the time being, still not sure whether she would get a pet yet, but Emma really wanted one.

The shop was really smelly, which wasn't much of a surprise given the sheer amount and variation of creatures inside. There were toads near the door, ravens up near the ceiling, snails and various reptiles in the middle. At the far side were many different breeds of cats and there were even a few owls too, though not nearly as many as inside Eeylops Owl Emporium.

Emma was about to walk toward the cats when she heard the flapping of large wings getting very close and then something heavy landed on her head with a caw.


	5. Chapter 5 - Nephthys

**Chapter 5 – Nephthys**

Hermione, Harry and Ron, who could see what had landed on Emma's head, all had different reactions, and it amused her. Ron took a step back in shock, Harry looked curious, and Hermione was trying not to laugh.

Emma tilted her head back, ever so slightly, to not unsettle the bird, and looked up as much as she could with just her eyes. All she could see was a black beak.

'Hey there, birdy.' she said, softly.

The bird leaned forward, pecked Emma lightly on the forehead and then cawed again, as if it was speaking. Smiling, Emma lifted her left arm to head height and the bird took the offer, hopping onto it and fluttering it's wings to remain steady. When she lowered her arm again so that she could look the animal in the eye, it made a quiet throaty noise and she could see that it was a raven.

'Nice to meet you too, scruffy.' she said, affectionately.

The raven looked very young, probably a fledgeling, and it was very unkempt. The feathers on its chest and around its head were nearly as messy as Harry's hair. It made another quiet noise and then it shook it's head, ruffling it's feathers, making itself even scruffier, and Emma laughed.

'Silly bird.' she said, almost cooing, stroking it to tidy up it's feathers.

'You must be very special.' said a deep voice from behind Emma.

She indicated for the raven to hop onto her left shoulder, before she turned around, carefully, to see a tall, kindly man wearing an apron. He seemed to be the owner of the shop.

'What do you mean, sir?' she asked.

'You're the first person she's shown any interest in since she was brought here after being found in an abandoned nest two weeks ago.' he replied, sombrely. 'Ravens can be really quite picky, and she seems to have taken a liking to you.'

Emma blushed in embarrassment. It seemed even getting praise from an animal made her uncomfortable.

'So, she's an orphan, like you.' gasped Hermione.

'You're an orphan?' asked the shopkeeper, surprised.

'Yes, sir.' said Emma, flatly.

'Well then,' he said, thoughtfully. 'I can't say I'm surprised she chose to meet you. Ravens are incredibly intelligent animals, perceptive too.'

'You were abandoned, like me?' she asked, turning her head slightly to the side to see the raven.

It cawed back and nipped her nose affectionately.

'Well, there's no way I can leave you here now, is there?' said Emma, resolutely.

'Are you allowed to take a raven to Hogwarts?' asked Hermione. 'I thought we could only bring an owl, a cat or a toad.'

'Oh, certainly, you can take a raven to Hogwarts.' said the shopkeeper. 'You'll just need to let your head of house know in advance. After all, they used to be quite popular with those in Ravenclaw, as you might imagine, and they can be used to send letters, just like owls.'

'So, how much is she?' asked Emma.

'Normally ravens would be 15 Galleons, but she's still a fledgeling, so let's call it 10, ey?' he said, winking.

Emma's heart sunk. She wasn't expecting a pet to be quite that much.

'What's wrong?' asked Hermione, who seemed to be just as perceptive as the raven.

'If I buy her, I won't be able to buy my school books.' she said, opening her purse to look inside. 'I've only got a little over 12 Galleons, and Lockhart's books aren't cheap.'

Ron, who was arguably poorer than Emma, looked awkward. She was sure he knew the feeling she was having right now acutely. Hermione looked sympathetic and was about to say something when Harry quietly reached into his pocket and then dropped 10 Galleons right into Emma's purse. She would have moved away and declined the offer. Having fast reflexes, it would have been easy, but the move had been so unexpected, she just watched it happen.

'But, Harry, I can't accept that much...' she complained, uncomfortable.

'Call it an early birthday present.' he said, smiling.

Emma sighed, wanting to protest, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She really wanted the raven and would forever feel guilty if she left her at the shop.

'Are you sure?' she asked.

'Of course.' he said, simply. 'You make a good pair.'

'Thank you, Harry' said Emma, tears starting to well in her eyes.

She carefully moved forward, trying not to unbalance the raven on her shoulder, and hugged Harry. She then paid the shopkeeper.

'She's all yours then.' he said, beaming.

He handed over a reasonably sized bird-cage that Emma nearly refused. She wouldn't be keeping the raven in a cage if she could help it, but it might come in handy occasionally. He also dropped a couple of packets of treats into the bottom of the cage with a wink.

Leaving the shop, with a broad grin on her face, and a raven on her shoulder, Emma followed the others toward Flourish and Blotts.

'I hope your mum and dad don't mind a raven in the house.' said Emma, sheepishly. 'Probably should have thought of that first.'

'You know, you're really very impulsive, Emma.' laughed Hermione. 'I'm sure they'll be fine. They put up with Errol, even when _someone_ keeps sending him after being asked not to.'

'I told you, I tried!' moaned Ron. 'Percy wouldn't let me use Hermes.'

'What are you going to call her?' asked Hermione, ignoring Ron.

'I don't know.' said Emma, looking sideways at her bird. 'We'll think of something.'

Emma nearly bumped into the back of Harry when he stopped walking. They'd gotten to Flourish and Blotts, but it was packed with people and they were all jostling to get inside. It didn't take them long to find out why. There was a large banner stretched across the upper windows declaring that Gilderoy Lockhart himself would be inside, signing copies of his autobiography, _Magical Me_.

'Oh, no.' said Emma, hanging back as Harry and Ron went ahead.

'What's wrong, don't you want to meet him?' asked Hermione, giddy with excitement. 'I mean, he's written almost the whole book list!'

'No way!' said Emma emphatically, backing away, scared. 'You'll never get me into the same room as someone who could make me eat lettuce for the rest of my life.'

'He wouldn't do that. He helps people, and you're a good vampire.' said Hermione, comfortingly.

'Thanks, Hermione, but I think I'll stay out here. Raven and I have to think up a name, anyway. Go, get your books before you miss your chance to get one signed.' smiled Emma. 'Can you get mine too, please?'

Hermione rolled her eyes, took Emma's purse and went into the shop.

'Scaredy-cat.' she said, quietly, knowing only Emma would be able to hear it and laughed.

Emma spent the next half an hour outside Flourish and Blotts, sat cross-legged in a corner opposite the shop, out of the way, trying to find a name for her raven. She listed off all manner of different names that she could think of. First she tried some constellations, such as Corvus, but the raven wasn't impressed. She then tried Huginn and Muninn, the two ravens that acted as Odin's eyes from Norse mythology. Again, neither of them were good enough. Emma then tried Greek mythology, or at least, the three goddesses that she could remember, Athena, Artemis and Hera. After those were ignored too, she tried names from Ancient Egypt.

'What about Bast, or Bastet, the goddess of protection, though she's always depicted as a cat.'

The raven pecked her on the side of her head for the umpteenth time. If she didn't heal so quickly, she'd probably have a bruise there, and she was beginning to wonder whether Harry had this much trouble with Hedwig.

'Yeah, I thought not. There's also Ma'at, the goddess of law and justice. She would weigh the heart of the dead to see if they had been good or evil.'

Another jab to the temple.

'How about... Sekhmet... no, maybe not, she's a lion, and goddess of fire and vengeance.'

Jabbed again.

'There's Seshat, goddess of knowledge, writing and astronomy or Nut, the goddess of the sky.'

Two jabs and a caw.

'Okay, what about Nephthys? She was sometimes called _Friend of the Dead_ , as she would give guidance to those who recently died and comforted their living relatives.'

Emma wasn't jabbed that time, instead she got a little nip on the ear.

'You like that name, Nephthys?' she asked, pleased.

The raven lowered its head and then repeatedly puffed up it's chest before blowing air out. The action made a strange warbling noise that sounded almost like a laugh and it made Emma giggle.

'Well then, Nephthys, it's nice to meet you.' she said, formally, scratching her under the beak. 'I'm Emma.'

She spent a little while longer talking to Nephthys, about herself, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Richard and Jane. A number of people walking by were looking at her like she was mad, but she was oblivious. Nephthys seemed to at least understand some of it, and even cawed back occasionally.

'And that's Hagrid.' said Emma, pointing down the alley a little when she heard and felt him approach. 'Hi, Hagrid.'

'All right down there, Emma?' he asked looking at her sitting on the floor. 'And who's that?'

'This is Nephthys.' said Emma, getting up. 'Isn't she cute?'

'Aye, that she is.' chuckled Hagrid. 'Why am I not surprised ye managed ter befriend a raven.'

Emma grinned and started telling Hagrid about what happened in _Magical Menagerie_ , but she was interrupted when some sort of fight occurred inside Flourish and Blotts. It seemed Mr Weasley, of all people, had started brawling with a man that looked a bit like Draco.

'Gentlemen, please – please!' cried the shop assistant, but he was completely ineffectual.

'Break it up, there, gents, break it up -'

Hagrid had waded inside the shop, to the mess of books scattered around, to break up the fight and he managed to pull the two men apart with ease.

Everyone quickly left the shop after that and Emma rushed to Hermione and the Grangers to see if they were alright. The three of them looked very shaken up from the experience, and an uncomfortable looking Hermione handed over a full set of books along with Emma's now very light purse in silence. The atmosphere continued to be very subdued as they followed the Weasleys back to the Leaky Cauldron.

It wasn't until Emma was leading the Grangers back to their car, after saying goodbye to the Weasleys, who took Floo powder back to their home, that they started talking again, the mood lightening now that they were back in the muggle world. Richard particularly returned to his usual self.

'Emma, your hair seems to have sprouted wings...' he said, chuckling.

'Oh, yeah.' giggled Emma, gathering all her hair in her hand and pulling it in front of her right shoulder, revealing Nephthys properly. 'This is Nephthys, my pet raven.'

Apart from Hermione's nightmares, and Emma's memories, haunting the two of the more often, the rest of the holidays went spectacularly. Richard and Jane were perfectly happy to have the raven in the house, especially as Nephthys spent most of the time outdoors during the day, learning to hunt and forage for herself. She never flew far though, staying well within the range of Emma's hearing. If she wasn't outdoors, she would usually be found either on Emma's shoulder, or asleep on the perch in her cage. Emma made a point of never closing the cage door though.

They weren't completely inseparable, however, as Jane and Richard frequently took the girls out to various places. They went to the cinema a few times, saw a play at a theatre, and visited a number of other museums scattered around London. The rest of the time, Emma and Hermione would read their new books, cover to cover, and Emma continued drawing her map, now that she had the parchment for it.

She had very recently finished the map, less than a week before they were due to return to Hogwarts and was sat outside in the back garden. The Grangers were eating their dinner, which Emma made a habit of avoiding. She had propped up a large black umbrella in the middle of the garden that she could use for shade, to stop the sun from hurting as much, and was lying on her back, thinking.

She was just relaxing when her mind was invaded by what she could only describe as a dream, though she was awake, and could still see the Grangers garden around her.

'Where is it?' demanded a deep voice.

All Emma could see was grass, some flowers, the roots of a few trees and a pair of hands that looked like her own, but they weren't. They were covered in blood, particularly at the nails which looked like they were about an inch long, and extended to a single point. They looked very sharp.

The vision changed as it tilted down. Emma could see now why it looked like the hands were hers. She was looking through someone else's eyes, a young woman, judging from her figure and long black hair, and she was wearing simple hiking clothes. They too were covered in blood, but it didn't seem to be her own.

Even though her arms were free, the rest of her wasn't. She was bound in ropes around the torso and legs, forcing her to kneel on the ground. They looked just like the ones Quirrell had used on her and Hermione. The woman tried cutting at the ropes with her claws but they kept repairing themselves, and there were so many that it accomplished nothing.

Finally, the woman looked up at the voice. Towering above her was a tall, ageing man with short, greying, brown hair, who looked physically weak, however, he was holding a wand, and it was pointed at the woman. Even though Emma didn't know this man, she felt an incredible amount of rage toward him that not even Quirrell had managed to earn, though she was sure this feeling wasn't her own.

In answer to the man's question, the woman just spat at him, and Emma noted that the stain it left on his jacket looked like blood, though she didn't have long to process the rest of the scene. The man uttered an all-too-familiar word, a word she had heard repeatedly in memories over the summer, and she again felt the pain associated with the Cruciatus Curse.

It was a strange sensation. Her body was fine, yet she was feeling the same pain this unknown woman was, only she clearly wasn't as resistant as Emma. Emma had to lock her muscles and jam her jaw tight to stop herself from screaming out, though she couldn't help making enough noise to alert Hermione in the dining room, who came running immediately, looking worried.

Emma had to hold up her palm to show she was okay, when the pain stopped. She really wanted to keep concentrating on the vision as she was certain, though she wasn't sure why, that it was happening right now, and if she missed something, she would never see it again.

'Where is it?' the man repeated, louder than before.

'I killed more of you than my mother did.' laughed the woman, maniacally, and was again hit by the unforgivable curse.

'Where did you hide your spawn?' demanded the man, brandishing his wand, clearly losing his patience.

'I don't know where she is, I had one of your kind wipe my memory.' cackled the woman, convulsing on the floor after the curse was released again. 'By the time you find her, she'll have hidden a daughter of her own!'

She was laughing uncontrollably now. She knew they couldn't get her to reveal her child, and they would likely spend another decade searching.

'You better hope you never find her, she's already stronger than me!'

The man was really getting angry now, hitting her with another curse, and the pain was getting unbearable.

'Don't you see,' she shouted to the numerous other magicals surrounding her that she couldn't see. 'your curse is getting weaker every generation! Soon we'll even be able to use magic again!'

The man seemed to have had enough, and instead of another round of pain, there was instead a flash of green light, and then the vision suddenly vanished.

It took a while before Emma could speak, and the whole time, Hermione was worried sick.

'I think they just killed my mother.' said Emma, out loud, stunned.


	6. Chapter 6 - Family

**Chapter 6 – Family**

Before Hermione could think of anything to say, Emma was again assaulted by a vision, however, this one didn't feel the same, like it was old, a memory.

Her suspicions were confirmed when a pair of hands carefully placed a basket at the top of some steps, next to some large double doors. Emma would recognise them anywhere. Inside the basket was a baby, less than a day old, already showing a dark head of hair and bright green eyes. It was asleep, wrapped tightly in blankets. Clearly, this was the moment Emma's mother abandoned her at the orphanage.

Tears were welling in the woman's eyes, and Emma could feel her emotion. She had never understood what it would take for a mother to abandon her child, but now that she was feeling it, she really wished she wasn't. It hurt so much, and she found herself crying too.

'I'm so sorry.' said the woman to the baby, softly. 'I know you'll hate it here, with these humans, but for now you'll be just like them. Don't get too attached though, they'll be food soon enough.'

Baby Emma stirred and wriggled in her sleep, loosening the blankets around herself. Her mother tucked her back in again with a sob.

'I know you'll hate me too. Those filthy magicals have made sure of that.' said the woman, her emotions changing slowly to anger. 'Cursing us to strip our magic, to make us as weak as those pitiful humans, and then hunting us so that we will never see our daughters grow up.'

She paused, sobbing again.

'Mother said we used to be magical once, centuries ago, like them, but I never believed, not until I felt you growing within me. You're strong, little one, you won't need me. They'll take care of you here, and when you've changed, you'll show those magicals. Make them pay for what they've done to us.'

Emma's mother then bent down and kissed the baby on the forehead gently, before getting up, wrapping a cloak around herself and leaving.

'Goodbye, my love.'

When the vision faded, Emma slumped onto the ground on her side and continued crying. She didn't think she had ever felt such emotion. Her own feelings were still mixed in amongst the echo of her mother's, and it was unbearable.

She didn't know how long she laid there for, with Hermione sat quietly beside her, before she had calmed down enough to sit up. Hermione immediately hugged her and asked what happened.

Emma tried to explain the first vision, but as soon as she mentioned the Cruciatus Curse, Hermione flinched and so Emma stopped, not wanting to upset her.

'We've got to stop this.' murmured Hermione after a pause. 'My nightmares are getting worse, and I know you're struggling too, no matter how hard you try to hide it.'

Emma nodded, forlornly.

'We need to talk about what happened with Quirrell, or it'll drive us mad.'

Again, Emma nodded, getting to her feet, unsteadily, and helped Hermione up too.

'Jane, Richard,' she called. 'we have something to tell you.'

The four of them spent the next few hours sat in the living room discussing what happened under the third floor corridor at Hogwarts, and their attempt to save the Philosopher's Stone. They laid it on thick, not leaving out a single detail, even Emma dying, knowing that what they had done was reckless and stupid, that they should have told McGonagall, if Dumbledore wasn't listening, and also that they were sorry for not saying something sooner.

Neither Jane nor Richard said much while the two girls were talking, their looks of disapproval and horror were enough, however, their expressions softened when the girls finished.

'We're glad you're both safe, and that you've learned your lesson.' sighed Jane, managing to sound both comforting and stern at the same time, as she embraced them both. 'The two of you need to stop trying to shoulder your troubles alone. You're too selfless.'

Emma and Hermione hung their heads, nodding, but they both felt better for having talked about it.

'So, Emma,' asked Jane, concerned. 'what happened earlier? You looked like you were struggling with your memories far more than normal.'

Emma sighed, internally trying to calm herself, to distance her emotions, before she explained her visions as best she could. Nobody said anything as she described them, they were all uncomfortable with the topic. They didn't know how to talk to a child who had never known her parents, but had suddenly watched one of them die a horrible death.

When Emma finished, Hermione tried to be pragmatic and draw some conclusions, though she held Emma's hand the whole time.

'So, she was being hunted by a group of wizards, who centuries ago cursed your family, to weaken you. I guess it was to make you easier to hunt, but something has happened and the curse is fading?'

Emma nodded. It seemed to be a good enough deduction.

'Is the curse why you can't cast Transfiguration spells?' asked Hermione. 'The way she said your family would be able to use magic soon suggests she couldn't use it at all, and you can't use it completely.'

'I guess so.' murmured Emma.

'But why would they want to hurt you?' asked Richard. 'I mean, yes, you're a vampire, but killing you is as senseless as hunting any other predator. It's not your fault you have to drink blood.'

Emma smiled weakly at that, knowing Richard was accepting her for who she is.

'Yes, dad, and I feel the same way, but the wizarding world doesn't.' said Hermione, sombrely.

'What do you mean?' asked Jane.

'In wizarding law, vampires are classified as _Beings_ , rated little higher than animals, and with the exception of one paragraph in the _Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans_ saying that they can't be killed _arbitrarily_ , they have virtually no legal rights.'

Richard and Jane both looked dumbstruck. They hadn't expected it to be quite that bad.

' _Non-Wizard_ , _Part-Human_.' repeated Richard, slowly, disgusted. 'The phrasing on that says it all.'

'That's barbaric.' sighed Jane. 'I see why you're so worried about keeping it a secret.'

'Doesn't that mean the ones that captured your mother broke the law?' asked Richard.

'No.' said Emma, shaking her head. 'Her hands, clothes and mouth were covered in blood. I think she killed quite a few of them before she was tied up. They would probably be praised for killing her.'

'But she was defending herself!' countered Richard.

'All they would have to do is say she attacked first.' said Hermione.

Needless to say, it was with a very solemn mood that the three Grangers went to bed that night. Emma decided to spend the night up on the roof again as she had a lot to think about. Her world had been turned upside down in the blink of an eye, and she was having difficulty putting aside her anger toward her mother for abandoning her. It was jarring for her to know that her mother loved her, and was trying to protect her, when Emma had always felt that she had been thrown aside like garbage.

She was sad, of course, that her mother had died. She would be sad if she saw anyone die, and that was all it was really. Her mother was little more than a stranger to her. The Grangers, however, who had completely and utterly accepted her into their home, with no misgivings, and were treating her, if not like a second daughter, then a close family member, were something else. In the short time she had known them, they had been better to her than anyone else in her entire life. If anyone had the right to be called Emma's parents, it was them, though that would make Hermione her sister. They'd joked about that before, but it felt weird to think of her like that now.

The main thing Emma had taken away from this whole experience was knowledge, and maybe, Emma thought, that was the point. Everything her mother said seemed to be important, as if she had been the one showing Emma the visions, on purpose. Emma didn't know how it was possible, though she was sure she didn't know even half of her vampiric abilities. Either way, she knew she was being hunted, that she was descended from a long line of vampires going back centuries, and that they were cursed.

The curse intrigued her more than anything else. Who could have been powerful enough to remove the magic from one person, let alone an entire family tree spanning hundreds of years. The only name Emma could even consider for such a curse would be Merlin, but with nothing else to go on, it was just speculation.

Emma didn't have long to dwell on her thoughts though as the holidays were drawing to a close, and their return to Hogwarts was imminent. Since she had only taken her clothes out of her trunk, it was a simple matter of packing it up again the night before they would be leaving. She added her new stack of school books and then dumped her clothes on top, including all of the ones Hermione had given her, and she closed it again with a great deal of difficulty.

On the morning of 1 September, Emma, Nephthys and the Granger's took the car to King's Cross Station again. They had left nice and early, thanks to the girls having packed the day before, though it still wasn't as early as Emma had gotten there last year. They made it through the barrier onto platform 9¾ with over an hour to spare.

'Now, girls, remember, school is about learning, and hard work,' said Richard, attempting to sound very stern, but hopelessly failing. 'so if I hear you've gotten up to anything _fun_...'

He couldn't help chuckling then, which made any threat he was about to give entirely weightless. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but still laughed with Emma and Jane.

'Are the two of you planning on coming home for Christmas?' asked Jane.

Emma looked surprised at the offer, and it was clear on both Jane and Hermione's face that they'd noticed.

'Don't be like that, Emma.' soothed Jane. 'So long as Mrs Cole at your orphanage is willing, you'll always be welcome to stay with us.'

Emma suddenly felt herself start crying and hugged Jane tightly. Her emotions were really beginning to get the better of her recently.

'Thank you, Jane, Richard. That means a lot to me.'

'We'll try, mum,' said Hermione, patting Emma's arm. 'but if we get too much work, we'll have to stay.'

'Okay, I understand.' she said. 'Do try though, we're thinking of going skiing.'

At that moment the clock on the platform struck 10 o'clock and Richard looked a little agitated.

'We should be heading off now, we've got to get back to work.'

'That's all right, dad, we'll be okay.' said Hermione.

'All right, then, girls.' he said, hugging them both. 'Be nice, have fun and don't get into too much trouble.'

'And write to us.' added Jane, also hugging them.

'We will.' replied Hermione and Emma in unison.

They said their goodbyes, and then the two of them went to find a compartment. They were all mostly empty so they picked the one at the back of the train. Emma stowed her trunk under a seat next to the window and started people watching, while Hermione took out a book.

They were just waiting for Harry and Ron to arrive, so they could all sit in the carriage together, but they seemed to be running late.

'There they are.' said Emma.

She'd just noticed Percy Weasley walk through the barrier at five minutes to eleven. They really were cutting it very close. Following Percy was Mr Weasley and the twins, then Mrs Weasley and Ginny. They were all rushing toward the train before it left with only a minute to spare. Emma and Hermione kept watching the barrier, but neither Harry nor Ron ever came through.

Ginny and the twins barely made it onto the train before it left, and still, no sign of Harry or Ron.

'Did they use the invisibility cloak?' asked Hermione.

'I don't know, the platform was too noisy to hear much.'

A moment later, George poked his head in the door. He was joined by Fred and Ginny.

'Harry and Ron aren't with you, are they?' he asked.

'They were right behind us at King's Cross.' added Fred.

'But then we lost them.' finished George.

'No, we were watching the barrier.' said Emma. 'They never came through.'

'Oh, poor ickle Ronniekins.' grinned Fred.

'Mum's going to kill him!' laughed George.

At that, the three Weasleys left them, and Hermione looked worried.

'They'll be fine.' said Emma. 'Harry's got Hedwig. All he has to do is send a letter to McGonagall and she'll probably Floo them to Hogwarts. They might even get there before us.'


	7. Chapter 7 - Temperamental

**Chapter 7 – Temperamental**

The train ride to Hogwarts was blissfully peaceful, for the most part, especially when compared with the previous year. The only time they were distracted was when the old lady with the refreshments trolley came by, but both of them declined and she moved on.

Hermione spent most of her time reading her _Wanderings with Werewolves_ book, for what must have been the third time, while Emma, who was feeling restless, kept flicking between reading the _Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_ and chatting with Nephthys.

At first, when Emma had gotten Nephthys home, she would talk to her, and Hermione just thought Emma was being a bit strange, however, she quickly noticed that Nephthys would caw back. She had no idea how much the little bird was actually understanding, but it was certainly more than Hermione had first given her credit for. Now, when she watched their discussions, it was with mild fascination.

At one point, the eager bird started pecking the window and cawing, like she wanted to go outside, but Emma was very reluctant.

'Sorry, Nephthys, and I know Hermione's probably going to call me a hypocrite, but I just think you're still a bit too young. You might not be able to keep up with the train and I wouldn't want you to get lost.'

Nephthys didn't like that very much and, just like a human toddler, went into a strop and flew over to Hermione's side of the carriage and started making a lot of noise.

'Tell you what, Nephy, I'm starting to feel really cooped up in here too, how about we go explore the rest of the train?'

Nephthys squawked and turned away, still in a tantrum. Emma couldn't help giggle at the bird's petulance.

'Well, I'm going, so you can come with me, or stay with Hermione.' said Emma, offering her arm for Nephthys to perch on.

The bird seemed to decide for a second and then flew up to Emma. She probably realised it was the best offer she'd get. Emma lifted her arm to let Nephthys hop onto her shoulder and the two of them left to explore the train.

'See you in a bit.' waved Emma.

'Have fun.' smirked Hermione.

Emma didn't know many people on the train, and she didn't like to intrude, so she never went into any of the compartments, even if they were nearly empty. Simply walking down the train was soothing enough for her restlessness.

She passed quite a few people in the corridors that looked at her and Nephthys with curiosity. It seemed virtually nobody, even among the Gryffindors, knew who she was, but when they saw Nephthys on her shoulder, they came to say hello and give the little raven some attention. It seemed that having a raven as a pet was really unusual, and Nephthys was loving the attention, acting quite smug. Emma, however, was very uncomfortable with this popularity.

It was after she had left two older Ravenclaw girls when she realised how few people knew her.

'Do you think she'll be sorted into Ravenclaw?' asked one of them when they thought she was far enough away.

'Definitely.' replied the other. 'Have never known anyone with a raven not be.'

For the second time that day, Emma felt her emotions overwhelm her. On the one hand, she was happy that she was so unknown, it kept her secret safe, but on the other, they thought she was a first year. Yet again, she was upset that she might have stopped ageing and began to cry.

She was really beginning to wonder what was wrong with herself. Recently, the littlest thing would set her off and throw her emotions into chaos. Emma knew she'd always been one to blow things out of proportion, something else that Hermione helped her with occasionally, but it really felt that this started getting worse shortly after the visions her mother showed her.

Nephthys tried to comfort her by nipping at her ear, and leaning her head against Emma's and it helped, earning her a cuddle. The emotions passed almost as quickly as they arrived, and Emma felt confused. No longer interested in exploring, she returned to her carriage and Hermione.

'What's wrong?' asked Hermione, noticing the red marks around Emma's eyes at once.

Emma explained what happened and Hermione sighed a little.

'I told you, Emma, you're still growing. Maybe not as fast as some, but you definitely are.' she said, calmly. 'And your mother was very short as well, wasn't she?'

Emma nodded, forlornly. Hermione's logical arguments always helped when she started to get carried away.

After a few minutes of quiet, Hermione changed the subject.

'Are you going to come to the sorting with me, or are you going to avoid it this year?' she asked.

'I think I'll go, though I'll have to hide during the feast. I don't want a repeat of last year where everyone asks me if I'm alright, and why I'm not eating.' frowned Emma.

Hermione grinned. She had been one of the main culprits for that, constantly asking Emma if she'd eaten. In her defence, Emma did look like she was starving herself, and it was only right to be concerned.

It wasn't long after that that they got the warning that the train would be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes, so the two of them got changed into their school robes and packed their things away. Emma put Nephthys back on her shoulder and followed Hermione out onto the platform after the train had stopped.

Since they had been at the back of the train, most of the school had already filed out towards the carriages that would take them the rest of the way from Hogsmeade station to Hogwarts. Emma had heard that they pulled themselves with magic. The two of them stayed to talk with Hagrid for a few minutes while he gathered all the first-years. He asked about Harry and Ron, but when they said that the boys never made it through the barrier, he shrugged, saying they'd be fine.

When they finally got to the road leading to Hogwarts, they found that they were the last two waiting for a carriage, and they were incredibly surprised when one started coming toward them.

'What's that?' asked Emma, curious, to a dumbstruck Hermione. 'I thought they were meant to pull themselves?'

Hermione shook her head, looking at the animal pulling the carriage sideways. 'No idea, and so did I.'

'It's not an Abraxan is it?' asked Emma, doubtful.

'No, they're bigger and have feathered wings.'

The two of them continued looking at the animal, forgetting themselves and the carriage for a moment. It looked like a horse, but it was almost completely black, very thin, skeletal even, and had large bat-like wings. The two of them found it a bit unsettling to look at, particularly it's ghostly white eyes, and quickly remembered they should be getting on the carriage.

As soon as they were inside, the strange horse walked forward without command, and they found themselves heading toward Hogwarts.

'I wonder why people said these carriages pull themselves.' thought Hermione, out loud.

'So, we're going to the library after sorting?' asked Emma with a wide grin.

Hermione laughed. 'Definitely.'

Once they had gotten out of the carriage, Emma started walking toward the school with Hermione beside her.

'Probably shouldn't take Nephy into the sorting ceremony.' said Hermione as they neared the front gates.

Emma looked confused for a second, she'd almost forgotten Nephthys was there, being so used to the weight on her shoulder.

'Alright, Nephthys, Hermione and I are going to have to spend a few hours in that big hall over there, and then we're going to go to the library for a bit. After that, we'll be going up there.' said Emma, pointing toward the Gryffindor Tower. 'That's where we'll be staying. You _can_ fly that high, can't you?'

Nephthys squawked at her as if the answer should be obvious.

'Okay, so, in about four or five hours, if you fly up there, I'll let you in. Until then, you can go wherever you want. Except the forest, please don't go in the forest.'

'Hypocrite.' whispered Hermione, giggling.

Nephthys cawed, happy to finally be allowed to fly around, and nipped Emma's ear before she flew off.

'I swear, you treat her better than you treat most humans.' said Hermione, smiling.

'Well, she _is_ better than most humans.' said Emma, simply.

They kept walking until they got to the doors of the Great Hall, and Emma stopped dead, looking through them at the teacher's table.

'What is _he_ doing here?' she asked, terrified, and stepping away.

'Who?' asked Hermione, looking inside, confused.

'Lockhart!'

'What? You don't know? Sorry, I thought you did. He's the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.'

Emma's face fell, and she stepped back another step.

'Look, Emma, it'll be fine. I told you, he's nice, if a bit full of himself, and I'm sure he won't even recognise you.'

'He has personal experience with vampires, Hermione. He'll know what I am immediately.'

Yet again, her emotions felt wildly out of control, and she was starting to drown in fear.

Hermione grabbed Emma's hand and spoke to her calmly for over a minute. Eventually explaining that he would never do anything with Dumbledore in the same room, Emma began to relax and relented into following behind Hermione toward their seats.

They ended up sitting next to Neville, Percy, Lavender and Parvati, near where the first years would sit after being sorted, right next to the teachers table. Emma watched him furtively from behind Hermione, and it was odd. The other teachers sitting next to him seemed to be treating him with contempt, but he was completely oblivious, smiling widely, showing off almost every single one of his pristine white teeth. When he finally saw Emma, he winked at her and then continued looking around the room.

Confused, Emma turned to Hermione who had a smug smile on her face. 'Told you so.'

The rest of the sorting went by very slowly for Emma. She listened when the Sorting Hat sung another song describing the four houses. It was a different one than the year before, and Emma wondered if it made up a new one every year, or cycled over seven of them so nobody heard the same song twice.

After that was the sorting itself, and it seemed to take longer than she remembered it taking last year. The first to get sorted into Gryffindor was a very eager boy called Colin Creevy, who couldn't seem to sit still, and the last was Ron's little sister, Ginny.

After that was the feast in which Emma tried incredibly hard not to be sick from the smell of the food, and the sound of everyone chewing, and concentrated very hard on not being noticed. It was torture. She was paying enough attention, however, to notice when Dumbledore and McGonagall left shortly after the food appeared, and returned again, joined by Snape, just before it was removed.

Dumbledore then gave out the start of term announcements, though there was nothing particularly interesting. He introduced Gilderoy Lockhart as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and then added that the forest was still forbidden and that magic was not allowed in the corridors. At least there weren't any out-of-bounds-death-corridors this year, that was something.

When they were finally released, after being given the password to the common room, Emma and Hermione slowly made their way out of the hall, and through the crowd. While they were moving, Emma couldn't help overhear Draco and some other Slytherins talking excitedly, and loudly, about Harry and Ron.

'Yes, expelled!' said Draco, smiling as if it were Christmas. 'For crashing a flying car into the Whomping Willow. Good riddance, I say.'

Emma recounted to Hermione what she'd heard Draco say as the two of them ran toward the library on the fourth floor, using, as always, some of the secret passageways Emma had found in her first year, though they paused outside to catch their breath before going in. Madam Pince, the librarian, was really very strict.

'He must be lying. It is Draco after all.' said Hermione as they walked inside.

'Hello Miss Granger, Miss Pearson.' she said, stiffly, looking at the clock on the wall. 'Shouldn't you two be going to your dormitories now.'

'Yes, Madam Pince, we will, we just wanted to see if there were any books on those horse creatures that pull...'

'That pull the carriages into Hogwarts?' interrupted the librarian.

'Yes,' said Hermione, questioningly. 'how did you know?'

'This happens every year,' she sighed, subdued. 'students coming in to ask about the creatures, not knowing why they are able to see them when none of their peers can.'

'But, we can both see them.' said Emma. 'You mean others can't?'

'Here,' said Madam Pince, taking a book off her desk and handing it to the two of them. 'You will find what you are looking for on page 478.'

She sighed again and busied herself around the library while the two of them found a table and started reading a page titled _Thestrals_.

'A _Thestral is an XXXX classification Beast and, as a species, are considerably dangerous. Therefore, the breeding and ownership of these beasts are strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic._ ' quoted Hermione, reading out loud.

'They didn't seem dangerous to me. In fact, the one pulling our carriage was really very peaceful.' said Emma, and Hermione nodded, before continuing.

' _The Thestrals are considered by many in the wizarding world to be unlucky and an omen of misfortune for those who can see them as they are only visible to those who have witnessed, and accepted, death._ '

The two of them looked at each other, eyes wide.

'That's not very nice.' said Emma, angry. 'So, they're treated badly because you have to see someone die before you can see them.'

'Superstitious nonsense.' muttered Hermione.

'But who have you witnessed die?' asked Emma to Hermione, who looked back, exasperated.

'You... you daft girl.' glared Hermione. 'Three times!'

'Ooh... yeah. Sorry.' said Emma, awkwardly.

'Come on, let's get back to the dormitories before it's too late.' said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

After leaving the library, the two of them ran up to the Gryffindor common room, and just as they rounded the last corner, they saw Harry and Ron, standing outside the secret entrance to the tower.

' _There_ you are! Where have you _been_? The most _ridiculous_ rumours, someone said you'd been expelled for crashing a flying _car_.'

'Well, we haven't been expelled.' replied Harry, sheepishly.

'You're not telling me you _did_ fly here?' said Hermione, severely.

'Skip the lecture,' said Ron, impatiently. 'and tell us the new password.'

Emma began to lose control of her emotions again, and she saw red.

'Don't you _dare_ speak to her like that!' yelled Emma as she instantly closed the distance between her and Ron and slapped him.

The slap sent a shock-wave over the four of them. They were all stunned at the outburst, most of all Ron, who had not expected her ferocity, her speed, or that she would use her left hand.

Emma huffed indignantly, and turned away to pace up and down the corridor. She'd never hurt anyone before, not on purpose, and the feeling terrified her. She'd only ever felt this level of anger once, and it hadn't been hers, it had been her mother's, staring at the vampire hunter. Ron didn't deserve that.

'Emma?' asked Hermione, concerned.

'I'm sorry, Ron,' said Emma, turning to him, before resuming her pacing, to calm down. 'but you shouldn't have spoken to Hermione like that. She's just looking out for you, and you treat her like dirt. I don't like it! It's not her fault you did something stupid.'

She sighed again, and collapsed to the floor, tears in her eyes.

'I'm sorry. The password is "Wattlebird".'

Anything the others were about to say was cut short as the portrait of the fat lady swung open, and there was a sudden storm of clapping. Nearly every single Gryffindor, including the first-years, were still awake and packed into the common room, waiting for the two boys to return to the dormitory.

Arms reached through the portrait hole, pulling Harry and Ron inside and the congratulations began, leaving Emma and Hermione outside, scowling, for different reasons.


	8. Chapter 8 - Howler

**Chapter 8 - Howler**

'They're enjoying themselves, aren't they?' glared Hermione, as she sat down next to Emma and leaned against the wall outside the common room.

'Mmhmm.' nodded Emma, who could hear the cheers of the Gryffindor's, even through the thick walls, though they were starting to settle down.

'Those two...' sighed Hermione. 'Flying a car – really? Are they trying to get themselves expelled?'

Emma just shrugged, she was feeling really despondent after what she'd done, and she couldn't help stare at her left hand like it belonged to someone else.

'What happened?' asked Hermione, looking over, concerned. 'I've never seen you lash out like that before. I mean, I know Ron can be insensitive sometimes, but did you really have to hit him?'

'I didn't mean to... I just got so angry, I couldn't stop myself.' stammered Emma. 'I'm scared, Hermione. I think I'm losing control again.'

'You're not, okay? It's not the same as before. You didn't try to bite him, you shouted at him and slapped him. Is it really the vampire doing that?'

'I don't know.' mumbled Emma.

'You've been through a lot recently, with what your mum made you see and feel.' said Hermione. 'I don't think I'd be doing half as well in your place.'

'But you're always so level-headed. I think you'd make a great vampire.' replied Emma. 'Sorry, you probably don't want to hear that.'

'Don't tempt me.' smiled Hermione. 'You know I'm jealous that you don't need to sleep.'

Emma smiled weakly. 'What if it happens again, though? I can't slap Ron every time he says something mean. I'd never stop.'

'He's not that bad.' giggled Hermione. 'Maybe you could hide yourself, and then you could scream the place down and nobody would know. Or you could always run away before you do anything.'

'I don't think that would work.' moped Emma. 'But I'll try. Thank you.'

'Any time.' said Hermione, giving Emma a hug. 'Now, let's get inside. Nephthys is probably wondering where you are.'

Upon hearing Nephthys' name, Emma was immediately up on her feet, as if all her problems were forgotten, and helped Hermione up too.

'Wattlebird.' she said before jumping inside.

The common room was now almost entirely empty, everyone having gone to bed. There were a few older students still sitting around, including Percy Weasley, who looked very cross. Emma ran right up to the window to look outside. Nephthys was nowhere to be seen, and Emma couldn't hear her either.

'Umm, Percy. There hasn't been a raven tapping on the window recently has there?'

'Very funny.' said Percy, sounding completely unamused.

'Pardon?' asked Emma, confused.

' _While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping... As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door._ ' quoted Percy, dully.

The two girls started giggling. The last thing they expected was for Percy, of all people, to be quoting a muggle poem.

'No, I mean my pet raven. I told her to meet us up here after the feast and I'd let her in.'

'Then, my apologies, I have not. Not that I would have heard it anyway, thanks to those two _inconsiderate_...'

'That's all right. I'm sure she'll be along soon.'

'She's probably too busy exploring.' smiled Hermione, and Emma grinned.

It wasn't long before Nephthys finally flew around to the Gryffindor tower, and Emma let her in. The two of them then followed Hermione up to the dormitories. Hermione was clearly exhausted, and so was Nephthys. Emma on the other hand just wanted a better set of clothes to run around the school in.

'Now, Nephthys,' whispered Emma before they opened the door to their bedroom. 'You're going to have to be quiet in here, okay? Lavender, Parvati and Fay are all asleep, and they won't be happy if they're woken up.'

Nephthys pecked Emma lightly on the nose.

'Good girl.' smiled Emma, cuddling her.

They then went inside and while Emma set up Nephthys' cage on her bedside table and kept the door open with some string, Hermione got changed for bed.

'Are you going to come to breakfast tomorrow to get your timetable?' she whispered.

'Yeah.' said Emma. 'I think I'm going to need to talk to McGonagall about Transfiguration.'

'Okay then. See you in the morning.'

'Night, Hermione.'

Emma got changed into a simple skirt and t-shirt, fussed and said goodnight to Nephthys and left to explore. Percy was still in the common room, writing a letter, and still looking very cross, so Emma had to hide as she opened the portrait to leave.

After spending more than six weeks away from the school, Emma spent a good hour just running around, refamiliarising herself with the castle, it's scents and sounds. After that, her first stop was, as usual, Barnabas the Barmy. Emma had had many ideas over the summer on how to open his secret, but, yet again, none of them worked. Barnabas was turning out to be her nemesis, and she gave up and moved on before she got too frustrated.

Her mood drastically improved later, however, when she found her first secret of the year. After drawing her map, she and Hermione had noticed a pattern, a gap in some spots on a number of floors that would be perfect for a passageway. Since the gap wasn't on the seventh floor, she tried where it would likely be on the sixth, and there it was, a wooden panel that sounded hollow when tapped. It turned out to be a sliding door that revealed a staircase that lead down toward the dungeons, right near the Hufflepuff common room.

Since she was there already, Emma decided to go inside. The Hufflepuff common room was by far her favourite of all the houses, even the Gryffindor's. It felt warm and homely, like a rustic country cottage, and the furniture was extremely comfortable. The colour scheme was also very pleasant in shades of pale yellow and made the Gryffindor common room look garish by comparison.

Emma's second favourite was the Ravenclaw's. Their tower was taller even than the Gryffindor's, giving them an excellent view of the grounds, and their pale blue and bronze house colours were really very pretty. Getting inside was problematic though. Their door asked riddles instead of requiring a password, and some of them were really very difficult, so she'd only managed to get in twice. Hufflepuff's security measure, however, couldn't even be described as such. All they needed to do was tap one of the barrels by their entrance in a specific pattern, that never changed, and it would open. Anyone could find that out and exploit it, which Emma did frequently.

The last common room, the Slytherin's, was the worst. It was dark and a sickly shade of green, and coupled with the window looking out under the lake that tainted any natural light that might find it's way through the water, it had a very claustrophobic feel. That and the seats were very uncomfortable, seemingly going for form over function. It didn't help that the passwords were usually something to do with a pure-blood ideology that made Emma sick.

She spent about half an hour in an amazingly comfy arm chair, updating her map with the new passageway, until she heard a Hufflepuff leave their dormitory and make their way down the stairs. She grabbed her things and ran before she could get caught, and went back up to her own room.

After getting changed back into her school robes and letting Nephthys out of the window, Emma followed Hermione to breakfast. They didn't wait for the boys as Emma was still upset about hitting Ron, and Hermione was still annoyed at them for nearly getting themselves expelled.

Emma hated being in the Great Hall during meal times, it reeked of human food and made her nauseous. She just wanted to get her timetable and leave, but she wasn't so lucky.

Harry and Ron arrived not long after they had, and when Emma saw Ron's face, she slumped in her seat. He still had a clear hand-print on his right cheek. She could tell that he was really not pleased to see her, and Hermione only added to the tension between the four of them when she gave a very terse 'Morning' to them.

A cheery Neville came by a moment later, trying to lift the mood, but he didn't succeed.

'Post's due any minute – I think Gran's sending on a few things I forgot.'

Sure enough, owls started flying into the hall and began dropping post onto people's plates. Emma had forgotten the owls did this at breakfast, as she normally avoided it as best she could, and was just watching them when a familiar owl started plummeting toward them. She managed to stand up and catch the owl before it landed squarely into Hermione's jug of milk. It was Errol, and he was carrying a red envelope in his beak.

Emma took the envelope and passed it to Ron, who looked like he had just been given a particularly venomous snake. Neville too was looking at it, terrified.

'Oh, no!' gasped Ron.

'What's the matter?' asked Harry.

'She's – she's sent me a Howler.' said Ron, faintly.

'You'd better open it, Ron.' said Neville, timidly. 'It'll be worse if you don't. My Gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and -' he gulped. 'it was horrible.'

Emma was wondering what they were on about when the Howler started making a sizzling noise and smoked at the corners.

'What's a Howler?' asked Harry.

'Open it,' urged Neville. 'It'll all be over in a few minutes...'

Ron shakily reached for the envelope and slit it open, while Neville stuffed his fingers into his ears. Considering Neville knew more about Howlers than Emma did, and given their name, Emma copied him, for what little that was worth.

The hall filled with shrill yells that sounded like Ron's mother, though Emma couldn't understand what was being said. If the humans near her were having trouble with it being so loud, they needed to know what it felt like to have vampire hearing. Emma really felt like her head was going to split in two from the pain it caused her.

It was an unbearably long time before the shouting stopped. It seemed that Mrs Weasley had a lot to get off her chest. The hall remained entirely silent afterwards, apart from the strange ringing sound in her head, until the Howler suddenly burst into flames and people all around the hall started laughing, before going back to their own conversations.

Ron had turned a brilliant shade of red that was incredibly similar to that of his hair, and Harry wasn't far off either. Hermione closed her book and looked down at Ron's cowering form.

'Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you-'

'Don't tell me I deserved it,' snapped Ron.

Emma's anger returned and she felt the sudden urge to slap him again. She very nearly did too, but the mark from the last time she hit him was made all the more obvious from his red, mortified face, and thankfully, that was enough to give her pause. Instead, she tried to do what Hermione suggested. She made herself unnoticeable and hissed at him. It helped, a little bit, but the main reason her anger dissipated so fast was because she was flooded with shame. If she didn't get her emotions under control, and soon, she was going to get herself expelled, or worse.

Emma was still trying to calm herself down when Hermione nudged her, and nodded her head toward Professor McGonagall who was making her way toward them with timetables.

'There you are, Miss Granger,' she said handing one to Hermione and getting a second for Emma. 'and Miss Pearson, if you would follow me, I would like a word.'

'Of course, Professor. I was hoping I could talk to you, as well.'

Emma gave a slightly worried look to Hermione, before getting up and following McGonagall to the entrance hall, slowly, as the professor handed out the rest of the timetables.

'There's no need to be worried, Miss Pearson, I just wanted to discuss your timetable. I'm sure you've already noticed that you've been scheduled to take Transfiguration.'

'Yes, Professor, that's what I was going to ask you about.' replied Emma, and McGonagall nodded.

'Professor Dumbledore and I spoke at length about this and we agreed that it would be worth you remaining in the class for the time being. If you are still unable to use Transfiguration magic by the end of the year, then we have decided that you will be allowed to drop the subject and instead choose another elective.'

'Elective?' asked Emma.

'Yes, Miss Pearson. Every year, all second year students will be required to pick two or three elective subjects from a list of five. They will be the subjects you continue to study for your Ordinary Wizarding Levels.'

'So I would just have to pick three or four subjects instead?' asked Emma and McGonagall nodded again. 'Though, professor, why would I pick three if I can pick four?'

'Why, indeed.' smiled McGonagall.


	9. Chapter 9 - Incompetent

**Chapter 9 – Incompetent**

Emma decided to wait outside the hall for Hermione to join her. They had double Herbology first, with the Hufflepuffs. When Hermione left the hall, she was with Harry and Ron, and treating them nicely again. Obviously whatever Mrs Weasley had said in her Howler had been considered punishment enough for Hermione. Ron, however, was still clearly unhappy with Emma, so she apologised again as they were making their way to the greenhouses. She wasn't sure whether he accepted it or not, but he did become a bit more amenable.

When they got to the greenhouses, they found the rest of the class already standing outside, waiting for Professor Sprout. They didn't have to wait long though as she soon came toward them, flanked by Gilderoy Lockhart.

As Emma hid behind Hermione, making her smirk, she noticed Harry duck his head guiltily when he saw Sprout carrying bandages, the same ones that were now covering the Whomping Willow.

The difference between Sprout and Lockhart was comical for Emma. Professor Sprout was the epitome of a Herbology teacher, her hands and clothes were covered in mud and dirt, and yet, Lockhart was absolutely spotless with his turquoise robes and hat, and his shining golden hair. He seemed to be the kind of person who put more effort into their appearance than anything else, and Emma felt that she had to agree with Hermione when she had said that he was a bit full of himself. It was only confirmed when the man called out to the class as he approached.

'Oh, hello there! Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don't want you running away with the idea that I'm better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several of these exotic plants on my travels...'

As if anyone could believe a man that pristine would be better at Herbology than Sprout.

'Greenhouse Three today, chaps!' said Sprout, disgruntled.

Emma raised her eyebrows in interest, and she could hear the murmurs of the class around her. They'd never been in there before, having only ever used Greenhouse One, and Emma was sure this meant more interesting plants. She thought that maybe Herbology would be a fun lesson for once.

Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the doors, letting them inside. Emma took a deep breath when the air from inside wafted to her. Over the smell of damp earth and fertiliser, there was a very pleasing aroma coming from some extremely large flowers hanging from the ceiling. She walked inside, trying to keep Hermione between her and Lockhart, and got jumpy when she heard him moving toward them, however, he grabbed Harry's shoulder and kept him outside, despite Sprout being clearly against it.

Emma, thankfully out of sight of Lockhart, started taking in the greenhouse properly. There were some trays at the side of the room that contained what Emma recognised as Mandrakes from her Herbology book. They were buried so that she could only see tufts poking out from under the soil. In the middle of the room was Professor Sprout, who was stood next to a bench upon which lay enough earmuffs for the whole class, and they were all different colours. Emma noticed a black pair and they were going to be hers.

'What colour do you want, Hermione.' asked Emma, nodding toward the bench.

'The red ones, please.' she said, smiling.

Emma walked forward to the bench in the middle and picked up the two she wanted. 'I presume we'll be needing these for the Mandrakes?' she asked to Professor Sprout.

The teacher's frown that was caused by Lockhart vanished, to be replaced with her usual light-hearted smile.

'Yes, dear, help yourself, and ten points to Gryffindor for recognising them.'

After that there was a mad dash with everyone trying to get some earmuffs that weren't pink and fluffy. Luckily for Harry, Ron managed to get two inoffensive colours, while Emma and Hermione happily grinned at getting the ones they wanted, although Hermione may have been smiling because Emma had earned some house points.

About a minute later, Harry came back inside, stood between Hermione and Ron, and Professor Sprout sighed, finally able to get on with her lesson.

'We'll be re-potting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?'

As always, Emma smiled when Hermione's hand shot up.

'Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative.' said Hermione, in her typical book-quoting tone. 'It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed, to their original state.'

'Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor,' said Sprout. 'The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?'

'The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it.' said Hermione after her hand had gone up again.

'Precisely. Take another ten points. Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young.'

Professor sprout pointed to the trays Emma had noticed earlier and the whole class edged forward to get a better look.

'You've all got your earmuffs, good. When I tell you to put them on, make sure your ears are _completely_ covered.' she said. 'When it is safe to remove them, I will give you the thumbs-up. Right – earmuffs on.'

Everyone in the room popped the earmuffs over their ears, including Emma, though she noticed that all they did was muffle the sounds in the room. She could no longer hear the heartbeats of those around her, or their steady breathing, but the louder noises such as someone dropping their bag to the floor, were still audible. Emma was instantly worried, because, thanks to her luck, this lesson was going to hurt, she was sure of it. As if she hadn't had enough pain in Defence Against the Dark Arts last year to last her a life time.

Just as expected, after Sprout lifted up the sleeves of her robes, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, she pulled hard and the small, muddy and ugly plant started screaming, and it hurt. It wasn't as bad as she was expecting, whether that was because of the earmuffs or because she was resistant to magic, she wasn't sure, but it was still more than a little annoying.

Professor Sprout then dunked the Mandrake into a large plant-pot and buried it in compost until, yet again, all that remained visible was the little tuft at the top of its head. She then shook the dirt off her hands and gave them all the thumbs-up.

'You could hear them?' whispered Hermione after everyone had taken their earmuffs off.

Emma just nodded, frowning, and Hermione looked concerned.

'As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet,' said Professor Sprout, calmly, interrupting them. 'However, they _will_ knock you out for several hours, and as I'm sure none of you want to miss your first day back, make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it's time to pack up.'

Hermione looked a little confused at that, probably wondering why Emma wasn't unconscious right now, but she lost her train of thought when Professor Sprout spoke again.

'Five to a tray – there is a large supply of pots here – compost in the sacks over there – and be careful of the Venomous Tentacular, it's teething.'

Emma had been wondering what that strange plant was that kept creeping toward Professor Sprout throughout the lesson, though she was distracted when a posh looking, curly-haired, Hufflepuff boy joined her, Hermione, Harry and Ron.

'Justin Finch-Fletchley,' he said, in a voice that only confirmed his upper-class background and shook Harry's hand. 'Know who you are, of course, the famous Harry Potter … and you're Hermione Granger – always top in everything …'

Hermione grinned as Justin shook her hand too.

'And Ron Weasley. Wasn't that your flying car? …'

Ron just stared back, impassive.

'And you are?' he asked turning to Emma.

'I'm no-one.' she said, and made herself unnoticeable.

Emma really didn't have the patience at the moment, not when she knew that any minute now, she was going to be subjected to Mandrake screaming again, for a double lesson.

Justin kept nattering to the other three until everyone had to put their earmuffs on again. Emma helped, as much as she could anyway. Trying to concentrate on re-potting the Mandrakes, when they clearly didn't want to be moved, was really very difficult while suffering from a splitting headache. Still, it could have been worse, they could have been garlic.

By the end of the lesson, Emma felt like her headache had progressed to a migraine and her hands were covered in dirt. She followed Hermione, Harry and Ron when they went back up to the castle to wash, and then headed to Transfiguration.

Emma hoped that she'd finally be able to do something in this class, but it wasn't to be. They were meant to be turning some beetles into buttons, but nothing was happening. Harry wasn't having any luck either, as his beetle kept trying to run away from him, though nobody was doing as badly as Ron, who was having a terrible time. His wand had been damaged in their altercation with the Whomping Willow, and it was making odd noises and sparking occasionally, and whenever he tried to cast a spell, he would be enveloped in a cloud of smoke that smelled truly vile. He even managed to kill his beetle, by crushing it with his elbow, when he was unable to see, thanks to the foul smelling plume.

Emma and Hermione left the class at the end with everyone else, though Harry and Ron stayed behind, grumbling about Ron's wand, so the two girls went ahead to lunch. Usually, Emma wouldn't have gone, opting to wait outside the next lesson or try out an idea she had for Barnabas, however, she was really trying to be a better friend to the other three, so she was making extra special effort, and that included putting up with the smell of human food.

Ron's mood, while already bad, just got worse when he finally arrived for lunch. He glared at Emma, showing that she still wasn't forgiven, and then Hermione didn't help when she showed the boys the set of perfect coat buttons she had made in Transfiguration.

'What've we got this afternoon?' said Harry, trying to change the subject.

'Defence Against the Dark Arts.' said Hermione, checking her schedule.

'What have you done to your timetable?' asked Ron, incredulous.

'It's colour coded.' she smiled.

It was too. Every lesson had been shaded in it's own colour and outlined in a darker shade to make each lesson stand out better. Emma noticed that Defence Against the Dark arts was coloured in pink.

'Why pink?' she asked, pointing.

'It was the only colour I had left.' said Hermione, shrugging.

After the other three had finished eating, they thankfully left to sit out in the courtyard. It was a nice overcast day, so Emma didn't need to hide in the shade for once.

Hermione continued to read _Wanderings with Werewolves_ and Harry and Ron started talking about Quidditch. Emma, on the other hand, was surprised to get a visit from Nephthys, who had come to say hello. She was so busy talking with Nephthys and giving her some fuss that she completely didn't notice Harry talking with the eager first-year boy, Colin Creevy, until Draco showed up, drawling as always. She was only paying enough attention to the conversation so that if anything started happening, she could try to intervene, but it wasn't needed. Colin, it seemed, had asked to take a photograph of Harry, and Draco, being Draco, thought that was worth deriding, however, Lockhart showed up a few moments later.

Draco, having caused a scene, slithered back into the crowd like the snake he was and bristled with glee at Harry's discomfort. It was clear by now that Lockhart was somehow threatened by Harry's popularity, and was doing his best to keep Harry out of the lime-light. Obviously Lockhart was too dim to notice that Harry hated the attention, maybe more so than Emma would in his place, but that seemed to be Lockhart to a tee. He really seemed oblivious to everything but himself.

When they finally made it to their lesson, followed shortly by Harry who had been corralled by Lockhart again, silence fell. Everyone was really looking forward to this class.

Last year, Quirrel had been almost entirely useless, even discounting the effect garlic had had on Emma, and most people's exam results reflected that, and they all thought that this year couldn't be any worse, especially with such a famous teacher who had done many amazing things.

When the class was seated, Lockhart cleared his throat, reached forward to pick up Neville's copy of _Travels with Trolls_ and held it up, showing his own winking portrait on the front.

'Me,' he said, pointing at it and winking as well. 'Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five times winner of _Witch Weekly's_ Most-Charming-Smile Award – but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by _smiling_ at her!'

Emma, who was sat next to Hermione near the middle of the class, looked bewildered. Was this man for real. Even Hermione was trying her best not to show her scepticism and give him the attention a Hogwarts Professor deserved.

'I see you've all bought a complete set of my books – well done.'

'As if we had a choice!' whispered Emma, quietly, so that only Hermione heard her.

'I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about – just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in …'

The test was the last straw for Emma. It was full of questions that were only about Lockhart, such as what his favourite colour is, what is his secret ambition and when his birthday is.

Disgusted, Emma realised she knew the answer to every single question, having read the books through completely, and she seriously considered answering them all wrong, just to be spiteful, but then again, if Lockhart was really as good as his books said he was, drawing attention to herself that way would be self-destructive, so, instead, she only got half of them wrong.

It seemed that while they were all doing the test, most of the other students were coming to the same conclusion as Emma. Seamus and Dean were trying very hard not to laugh, as were some of the other boys. Curiously, a lot of the girls weren't. They kept glancing at Lockhart with a strange look on their faces that Emma didn't understand. Emma looked to Hermione, to see how she was reacting to him, but they were doing a test, and that meant one-hundred and ten percent concentration as far as Hermione was concerned.

Emma blocked out the next half an hour. Lockhart went through the test papers, commenting on how many people knew the right answer to each question, until she heard him call Hermione's name. Obviously she'd gotten every question right, and that earned her ten points for Gryffindor. Hermione was pleased, of course, but it was clear that she was impatient to get the lesson started.

'And so, to business...' said Lockhart, dramatically.

He bent down behind his desk and lifted up a cage that was covered in a large cloth. Inside were a lot of angry little creatures, Emma knew that. She couldn't see them behind the cloth, but she could hear their shrill calls.

'Now – be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm.'

The whole class leaned forward, except Neville, who was at the front, and clearly regretting his choice.

'I must ask you not to scream.' said Lockhart, theatrically. 'It might provoke them.'

He then whipped the cloth off the cage to reveal the creatures inside; Cornish Pixies. Seamus finally couldn't help himself any more and burst out laughing. Even Lockhart, as oblivious to other people as he was, couldn't pretend it had been a scream.

'Yes?' he said, smiling at Seamus.

'Well, they're not – they're not very – _dangerous_ , are they?' replied Seamus, nearly choking because he was laughing so much.

What happened next was complete chaos. In an attempt to counter Seamus, Lockhart opened the cage, and the Pixies burst into action. Neville was the first victim, being grabbed by his ears and hung from the candelabra by his robes, and the classroom was next. Ink bottles were thrown, paper torn, pictures pulled off the walls and the windows smashed. Within minutes, the entire class, except Neville, were cowering under their desks.

'Come on now, round them up, round them up, they're only pixies...' shouted Lockhart.

He then rolled up his sleeves and brandished his wand, incanting a spell. ' _Peskipiksi Pesternomi!_ '

Now Emma started laughing. The spell had no effect, and one of the pixies even stole his wand and threw it out of the window. This man was a complete fraud, and even began cowering under his own desk.

As soon as the bell rang, everyone ran out of the class as fast as they could, except Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron, who were asked by a fleeing Lockhart to round the rest of the pixies up for him before he closed the door on them, shutting them inside.

'Can you _believe_ him?' roared Ron, as he received a bite on the ear.

'How did he ever manage to get the job? He's _useless_!' growled Emma, as she grabbed a pixie out of their air with ease.

'He must be somewhat capable.' said Hermione, frowning and pausing to hit two pixies with a freezing charm. 'Otherwise Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him.'

Some of the other pixies grouped together and started pulling Hermione's hair after that and she started flailing, trying to get them off, when one of them bit her on the arm.

Emma couldn't help it when she saw red again and wanted to kill all the little creatures, but she didn't know any spells that could do that, instead she copied Hermione and cast a freezing charm. Her anger must have really affected her as the spell froze everything in the room, except Hermione, Harry and Ron. The room looked oddly peaceful, as there were bits of paper raining down from the ceiling that had stopped mid air, as if time had stopped during a snowstorm. It was very pretty, and enough to calm Emma down again.

The four of them took all of the frozen pixies and put them back in their cage before Hermione incanted a dispelling charm to unfreeze them, and they all left the room, annoyed.


	10. Chapter 10 - Mudblood

**Chapter 10 – Mudblood**

After they left Lockhart's room, Emma noticed that Hermione and Ron were bleeding. They were only minor cuts, and she wasn't hungry, not since Madam Pomfrey changed her feeding schedule, but it was still bugging her. There was something about following behind Ron that took her attention in a way she didn't like. It felt odd, like it was scratching an itch she didn't know she had. Before they even made it down the first corridor to their next lesson, Emma had to do something.

'Please, stop a minute.' asked Emma, getting out her wand. 'Hermione, let me see your arm.'

Hermione looked at Emma questioningly, but she did as she was asked, and that was when she saw the small bite mark that one of the pixies had done.

'Oh, I didn't even notice that.' she said, awkwardly, before whispering. 'Sorry.'

' _Episkey_ ' incanted Emma, pointing her wand at the cut, and it vanished immediately, along with any blood that had dripped down her arm.

'Thanks.' smiled Hermione.

Emma then turned to Ron, who had a few bites on his ear and arm, and moved closer to him, but he flinched away from her.

'What?' asked Emma, feeling slighted.

'Last time you got close, you hit me.'

'You shouldn't have been mean to Hermione then, should you?' she said, curtly. 'And stop being a baby.'

She then grabbed his arm, roughly, and healed his cuts, along with the one on his ear, and even healed the mark on his face from her slap. Hopefully this earned a place back into his good books, but then again, he was a very stubborn Gryffindor.

The rest of the week went by without any issue. Emma hadn't lost her temper once, or bawled her eyes out, and, in fact, she was having a bit of a laugh, albeit at Harry's expense.

Instead of Emma hiding from Lockhart, because she knew he wasn't a threat any more, Harry started to do it. Lockhart always made a point of chiding Harry about his apparent attempts to be more famous, and Harry had had enough. It got even funnier when Colin started turning up in the corridors, between every class, to say 'All right, Harry?', as if it were the most exciting thing in the world, which only made Harry more irritable.

After two days of that, Emma started to feel sorry for him, and would give him some advanced warning to hide. She expected him to ask how she was able to do it, but it seemed he and Ron had long since chalked it up to one of her peculiarities and stopped questioning it. Besides, he was all too happy to take it at face value if it meant avoiding Lockhart.

On the Saturday morning, the first weekend back at Hogwarts, Emma had just gotten back from an uneventful night exploring, and was lounging on her back on a sofa in the common room, with Nephthys on her stomach, having another conversation, when Hermione came down.

'Thought I could hear you two.' she said, smiling as she sat opposite them.

'Morning, Hermione.' said Emma, and Nephthys cawed at her too.

'Thanks, Nephy.' laughed Hermione, looking down to Emma. 'Have the boys gone to breakfast yet?'

'No, Ron's still snoring, but Harry's down practising Quidditch. Saw him with Colin while I was on my way back.'

Hermione perked up at that. 'Ooh, we should go and watch then!'

'Eurgh.' groaned Emma. 'Do we have to?'

If there was one thing Emma found more boring than anything else, it would be Quidditch. Emma had never liked sports, of any kind, and that Quidditch was played on brooms only made it worse. She had failed her flying lessons the previous year because none of the school brooms responded to her at all. It was like she didn't exist. Emma presumed it was because she was a vampire, or maybe it was her reluctance to fly, but either way, she wasn't a fan.

'Of course.' replied Hermione, smirking. 'Nephy hasn't seen a game yet, and I'm sure she'll enjoy it, won't you, Nephy?'

Nephthys looked between the two girls and then pecked Emma on the chest.

'Ow, all right, all right, I'll go with you.' sighed Emma, pouting. 'Hermione, that was mean.'

Emma turned to look at her and she was giggling to herself, completely unrepentant.

When Ron finally woke up, the three of them, Emma, with Nephthys on her shoulder, Hermione, and Ron, walked down to the Great Hall where Hermione and Ron got a few slices of toast each and then continued to the Quidditch pitch. As soon as they were outdoors, Nephthys flew off, circling above them as they went.

It didn't take them long to get to the stands around the pitch, but when they got up to the top, they found that it was empty, except for one person, Colin Creevy, who was sat much further down. He was still nearly bouncing on his seat, unable to contain his own energy.

'Are we too late?' asked Emma, hopeful.

'I'm sure they'll be along soon.' said Hermione. 'They're probably going over tactics in the changing rooms.'

 _Soon_ was quite a severe understatement as they were in there for over an hour, and with Emma and Hermione talking about their Potions homework, Ron was left bored out of his mind.

'Aren't you finished yet?' he called to Harry, as they finally made their way out of the changing rooms.

'Haven't even started.' said Harry. 'Wood's been teaching us new moves.'

Harry then got on his broom and flew circles around the pitch, looking rejuvenated. Moments later, Emma noticed a familiar clicking sound coming from Colin. He was snapping photographs of Harry and the team, though mostly Harry, like there was no tomorrow.

The Gryffindor team had started practice, despite Wood noticing Colin, and in his paranoia, thought he was spying on them, when the Slytherins turned up in their Quidditch robes. Wood was furious and flew down to meet them, starting an argument.

Emma, Hermione and Ron immediately got up and descended to ground level to see what was going on.

'Oh look.' said Flint, as the three of them approached. 'A pitch invasion.'

'What's happening?' asked Ron, to Harry. 'Why aren't you playing? And what's _he_ doing here?'

By _he_ , Ron was referring to Draco, dressed immaculately in green Slytherin Quidditch robes.

'I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley.' he said, smugly. 'Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team.'

Ron's jaw dropped. A part of him was obviously jealous of the brand-new brooms, but also repulsed that they belonged to the Slytherin team.

'Good, aren't they?' said Draco, milking the attention for all it's worth. 'But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives, I expect a museum would bid for them.'

The whole Slytherin team burst out laughing, and the Gryffindor team looked dejected.

'At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to _buy_ their way in.' said Hermione, sharply. ' _They_ got in on pure talent.'

Draco's face froze for a second and then turned into a sneer.

'No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood.'

It took a split-second for Emma to realise what had just happened. Draco had insulted Hermione, that much was clear, but she didn't know what it meant at first.

' _Mudblood_.' repeated Emma, slowly, in her head. ' _Mud – blood._ '

She was already angry at Draco, for even trying to insult Hermione, but when, a few seconds later, she finally realised what he was calling her, she lost it. Not only was he insulting her best friend, but the only two adults she considered family.

The anger she felt toward Ron when she slapped him was nothing compared to this. She was shaking with rage now, crouching into a position she could leap at Draco with, and a small part of her brain realised that all her fingernails had grown into inch-long claws, like the ones she saw her mother with.

Just as she was about to leap, Hermione's right-hand grabbed Emma's left-wrist, very tightly, like a vice, distracting her. She didn't register pain, but it still gave her pause, to try to think. The hand had helped, but if it hadn't been quickly followed by a very stern glare, Emma wouldn't have stopped. It was the look on Hermione's face that really made her back off. It told her just how close she had come to ending Draco's life, right then and there, and consequently, also her own.

At least she had had the presence of mind, or maybe it was simply instinct, to hide herself, so the exchange between the two of them went unnoticed. It also helped that the Gryffindor team were beginning to show their own outrage, when Fred and George, not having a Hermione to hold them back, dived at Draco, who was then protected by the Slytherin team captain, Marcus Flint.

Still, Emma couldn't shake off the rage though. She stood upright again, trying to contain herself, but Hermione didn't dare let go of her wrist, her knuckles going white from holding on so tight.

Thinking of calming things weren't helping and neither was thinking about Nephthys, so Emma tried the opposite alternative, imagining herself strangling Draco with her bare hands. It was very cathartic, and she started glaring at him as she was staring him in the eyes.

It was as she stared at him that she noticed a look of fear spread over his face. She was gleeful at the sight, hoping that he knew what she was thinking, but then she noticed Ron in her peripheral vision, pointing his wand at Draco, and her ego deflated a little.

A loud bang echoed through the stadium, followed by a spectacular green light that hit Ron squarely in the chest, throwing him backwards. It seemed he tried to cast a spell, and because his wand was broken, it backfired.

'Ron! Ron! Are you all right?' squealed Hermione.

She still hadn't let go of Emma's arm, though it was nowhere near as tight as it had been. It was now more of a reminder than a manacle.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, he belched and ended up spitting out a number of slimy slugs into his lap. Emma immediately looked away, anger forgotten as she tried desperately not to throw up. She wasn't very squeamish, but she was sure she could hear more slugs moving around in his stomach, and the mental image was disturbing to say the least.

The Slytherins fell about laughing, as if they'd never seen something so hilarious, however, the Gryffindors all gathered around Ron, trying not to get too close, but still offer support.

'We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest.' said Harry to Hermione.

Emma was still hiding, and had clasped her hands over her ears to block out as much sound as possible. If only she'd stolen those earmuffs from Herbology.

She followed, from a distance, trying not to step on any slugs Ron had choked up, as Hermione and Harry carried Ron from the stadium to Hagrid's hut at the edge of the forest.

'Nearly there, Ron.' said Hermione, clearly not enjoying the situation any more than Emma was. 'You'll be all right in a minute … almost there...'

When the others got within twenty feet of the hut, they saw the front door open, but it was Lockhart who exited, not Hagrid, and, naturally, Harry dodged out of sight, taking Hermione and Ron with him. Lockhart turned around and started talking to Hagrid, but there was no way Emma was going to remove her hands from her ears to eavesdrop. There was nothing Lockhart could say that would be worth listening to anyway, and it took a few minutes for him to finally leave.

When he'd disappeared out of sight, Emma made herself noticeable again, moved up ahead of the others and kicked the door, lightly, to avoid using her hands, as they caught up.

When Hagrid opened the door, he looked very grumpy, but he quickly cheered up when he saw the four of them.

'Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me – come in, come in – thought you mighta bin Professor Lockhart back again.'

Emma walked in and got the attention of Hagrid's dog, Fang, so he didn't end up knocking Hermione, Harry or Ron over while he was having his slug attack. She appreciated the distraction he offered, as he was a very affectionate dog, always begging for fuss, and getting his slobber everywhere. She'd still take that over slugs though. Hagrid, however, didn't have a problem with them, it seemed. He just passed a basin over to Ron for him to be sick into.

'Better out than in.' he said, cheerfully. 'Get 'em all up, Ron.'

'I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop.' said Hermione, anxiously. 'That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand...'

'What did Lockhart want with you, Hagrid?' asked Harry.

'Givin' me advice on getting' kelpies out of a well.' growled Hagrid, clearing his table and setting down his teapot. 'Like I don' know. An' bangin on about some Banshee he banished. If one word of it was true, I'll eat my kettle.'

Emma's eyes went wide when she heard that, even through her hands on her ears. It was nice to see that someone else saw through Lockhart's facade.

'So you think he's a fraud too?' asked Emma.

'Yes, I ruddy well do.' he said, firmly.

'But Dumbledore hired him, so he must have thought he was the best man for the job.' said Hermione.

'He was the on'y man for the job.' said Hagrid, offering Hermione and Harry some treacle toffee. 'An' I mean the on'y one. Gettin' very difficult ter find anyone fer the Dark Arts job. People aren't too keen ter take it on, see. They're startin' ter think it's jinxed. No one's lasted long fer a while now.'

Emma winced as Ron threw up a few more slugs.

'So tell me,' said Hagrid, nodding his head toward Ron. 'who was he tryin' ter curse?'

'Malfoy called Hermione something. It must've been really bad, because everyone went mad.' said Harry.

'It _was_ bad.' said Ron, nearly unintelligibly, as he threw up another slug.

'He called her a _Mudblood_.' spat Emma, her blood boiling again.

Like all but the Slytherins, Hagrid looked outraged.

'He didn'!' he growled, looking to Hermione.

'He did.' she said, weakly. 'But I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course...'

'It's about the most insulting thing he could think of.' gasped Ron.

'It's quite simple.' said Emma, anger clearly leaking into her voice. 'He's calling your blood dirty, because your parents are muggles. _Mud_... _blood_.'

Emma couldn't control her anger and she slammed her hand down onto the table, making the others flinch, even Hagrid.

'But _why_?' she demanded, continuing. 'Why do they care so much? So what that Hermione's parents are muggles, they're wonderful, and she's the best student here!'

'There are some wizards – like the Malfoy family – who think they're better than everyone else, because they're pure-blood.' said Ron, burping up another slug, making Emma retch. 'I mean, the rest of us know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville Longbottom – he's pure-blood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up.'

'An' Emma's right, they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can't do.' said Hagrid, proudly.

Emma grinned as Hermione blushed a brilliant shade of magenta.

'It's a disgusting thing to call someone.' said Ron, shakily wiping his forehead. 'Emma got it. Dirty blood – common blood -'

Emma ignored the entire rest of her time at Hagrid's hut. She remembered the moment Draco said it, and felt her anger getting worse, but she wasn't losing control now. No, now she had a focus for it. Draco was going to pay.


	11. Chapter 11 - Revenge

**Chapter 11 – Revenge**

Emma was interrupted from her thoughts when Hermione dragged her outside Hagrid's hut with the rest of them to see his pumpkins for Hallowe'en. She didn't pay any attention though, too busy thinking of ways to get back at Draco, until they were all walking back up to the castle for lunch.

When they got into the Entrance Hall, McGonagall approached them.

'There you are, Potter, Weasley.' she said. 'You will both do your detentions this evening.'

Emma then watched the boys squirm, as they were told what they would be doing. Ron was going to be cleaning the trophy room with Filch, and forbidden to use magic, while Harry got an evening with Lockhart, answering his fan mail. Emma found it funny how they both felt that they got the worse deal, and wanted to swap places, but McGonagall was having none of it.

Emma wasn't able to concentrate for the rest of the day as a plan was formulating in her head. When the other three went down to the Great Hall for dinner, Emma excused herself, telling Hermione she wanted to try something else at Barnabas' tapestry, however, that was a lie. Instead, she ran off, made herself unnoticeable and sat outside the secret entrance to the Slytherin common room, waiting for someone to say the password. It took longer than she had hoped, and really wished Hermione didn't leave dinner early and try to find her on the seventh floor. She could lie again, but really didn't want to. Lying to Hermione felt wrong.

When she was done, she went straight back to the Gryffindor common room and tried to get on with some homework. Her plan required everyone to be asleep, so a little patience was in order. She couldn't help grinning when she thought of the look on Draco's face the next day.

She was joined by Hermione, and the boys too for a short time, but when they left for their detentions, the girls were left alone.

'What happened?' asked Hermione, bossily.

Emma knew what she meant immediately. Hermione had been glaring at her all day, and she thought she'd prepared herself, but evidently not enough.

'I... got angry again.' she stammered, ashamed.

'I could see that.' snapped Hermione. 'You looked like you wanted to kill Draco.'

'I did,' said Emma, ducking her head even more. 'and... I still do.'

'Emma!' she chided. 'Do you _want_ to get executed?'

'No, I know, I know, I don't mean it. I don't want to hurt anyone, but Hermione, you heard what he called you. You know he was insulting Richard and Jane too, right?' said Emma, quickly. 'I'm just going to take my anger out another way.'

Hermione glared at her.

'I promise, nobody will get hurt! Not by me anyway. Promise.' she said, raising her hands in a peaceful gesture.

'All right,' sighed Hermione, relenting. 'but if you get caught, I'm going to make you stick your hand up in class again!'

When Emma just grimaced, Hermione smirked, and they both went back to their homework in relative quiet.

It didn't take long to finish her homework as it was a Charms essay on the finer points of the latest spell that they would have been learning, if Emma and Hermione didn't know it already. Once she was done, Emma ran upstairs to get her _A-Z of Charms_ book that Hermione had gotten her for Christmas the previous year, and started looking up some spells. She just wanted to refresh her memory on a few, however, it distracted her. Emma remembered that Hermione's birthday would be coming up in three weeks, and needed to get her a present. The problem was, after buying Nephthys, and a full set of useless books written by a big-headed fool, she had no money left, and that was even after Harry had given her ten Galleons. It looked like she was going to have to make something again, but that upset Emma a little. Hermione had bought her this amazing book that had taught her so much, and all Emma had given in return was a simple string bracelet. She wasn't even sure if Hermione still wore it.

No, this year Emma was going to put in some extra effort and buy Hermione a book too. At first she considered asking Mrs Cole for some money, but that would never happen. Maybe if she needed the money for important school supplies, Mrs Cole would probably agree, but for a friends birthday present, there was no way. She could ask Harry, after all, he was rich, and spent his money like water, but she already owed him for Nephthys, and no matter what he said on the subject, she would pay him back one day.

The only other option left was Hermione's parents. Emma felt that they would be okay with lending her some money if it was for Hermione, and they wouldn't have to give her much. From what Emma remembered, the majority of the non-speciality books in Flourish and Blotts were at most 2 Galleons each, and given that the exchange rate for muggle money was approximately five pounds per Galleon, she would only need about ten pounds. She could make that back during Christmas or the summer holidays by doing some chores around the house, if they let her back there again, that is.

Of course, Emma wasn't going to be able to do anything about it with Hermione sat opposite her, so she went back to planning her humiliation of Draco. The slimy Slytherin was very popular among most of his house, after all, he was rich, conniving and a firm believer in pure-blood superiority. Not to mention his escalating rivalry with Harry had earned him a lot of respect. If she was going to get back at him for what he'd said, it was going to have to be public, in front of the whole school, and it would have to be embarrassing on a whole new level. It didn't take her long to find the two spells she had been looking for.

As soon as Hermione went to bed, Emma first started writing her letter to Richard and Jane, to pass a little more time, as there were still some people awake in the common room. It turned out to be a difficult letter to write and took quite a while. She felt very uncomfortable asking for money as she didn't like owing anything to anyone, so she made a point of adding the bit about doing chores. As an aside, she also asked if they could get her some coloured thread from an arts and crafts shop so she could make another few bracelets anyway.

By the time she had gone up to the owlery to post it, and down through the dungeons into the Slytherin common room, it was two o'clock in the morning, and everyone was fast asleep. Emma was very mindful of what she was doing as she crept up the stairs to the second-year boys dormitories. It seemed that Sneakoscopes were a popular item among the Slytherins and she was nervous about setting them off like she had the previous year. Luckily, Sneakoscopes were noisy devices at the best of times and most students took to hiding them at the bottom of their trunks and covering them in clothes. With her exceptional hearing, Emma could tell that there was at least one in every dormitory, except Draco's.

That simple fact made Emma very curious. Was the snake arrogant enough to think that he didn't need one, or was he so sensitive that he couldn't sleep in a room with one inside. Whatever the case, she was thankful for it. She knew of a spell to silence objects or people, but she'd not managed to learn it yet, after all, it was a difficult fifth-year spell, but if she was going to be doing this again, she decided she was going to have to try at least.

Emma sneaked into Draco's room and to his trunk. She didn't open it right away as who knows what traps he may have placed on it. She stepped back a few steps and pointed her wand at the trunk, incanting another more simple fifth-year spell.

' _Finite Incantatem._ ' she whispered.

It was the dispelling charm that Hermione had used on the pixies. The two of them put a lot of effort into learning that spell, as it seemed incredibly useful, and now, as Emma watched the trunk glow a little before going back to normal, she was glad she had. It didn't seem that the spell on the trunk was particularly powerful, and she had no idea what it might have done, but at least it was going to be safe to open. The only problem was, she had no idea what the spell Draco had used on it was, so she couldn't replace it afterwards. Hopefully, he wouldn't notice what had happened until too late.

She took out all three of Draco's school ties, and every pair of socks she could find. On his socks, Emma placed an incredibly simple _Tarantallegra_ charm which would cause him to lose all control of his legs and start dancing. On his ties, she put the slightly more complicated charm, _Cantis_ , which would cause him to burst into song, and Emma had just the one for him to sing. She'd been watching television at the Grangers during the holidays, and a music programme came on, with a very catchy song by a female pop group. Emma didn't like the music, but she'd been completely unable to get it out of her head for weeks now, and so, it was simply the first thing she thought of when applying the spell. That it was a muggle song was just the icing on the cake.

The problem with those spells now, however, was that as soon as he touched them, he would be affected, and that simply wouldn't do, not in the privacy of his own dormitory. This needed to be public, somewhere like the Great Hall during dinner time, when the entire school would be there. This meant she had to add a time delay to the charms, but that was achieved simply enough with another spell. So it was with no small amount of glee that Emma left the Slytherin common room, avoiding the Sneakoscopes again, having sealed Draco's humiliation. If he wanted to make a spectacle of Emma's friends, he was just going to have to deal with the consequences.

The following morning when Hermione came down the stairs to find a smirking Emma doing some more homework, she rolled her eyes.

'Do I even want to know what you've done?' she asked, apprehensively.

'You'll see.' grinned Emma, conspiratorially.

Hermione just shook her head and pulled a book out of her bag to read while they waited for the boys. When they arrived, the two of them looked exhausted, and they were massaging their elbows and shoulders, though neither Emma nor Hermione commented on them. They'd clearly learned their lesson, for now.

Emma followed the three of them to breakfast after that. She wanted to be in the hall for when the morning post arrived, not that she expected a reply from Richard or Jane yet, as they would likely have only just gotten the letter she sent, but she wanted to make sure. It wouldn't do for Hermione to open it and spoil the surprise. The other reason for joining them was so that she could glare at Draco.

He was wearing a tie, and he was talking casually with those around him, so he seemed none the wiser at his predicament. Again though, after staring at him for a short while, he began to look unsettled, maybe even fearful, but it quickly passed. After that, Emma stopped looking at him, it would probably draw suspicion, and so she decided that for the same reason, she would avoid the Great Hall at dinner time. Nobody would suspect her if she wasn't even there.

Since it was a Sunday and they had no classes to attend, Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron all went to the library to finish their homework. Harry and Ron still had their Potions to finish for the following day, which was typical of them, leaving things to the last minute, while Emma started her Transfiguration work that had been given to them on Friday.

Neither of the boys seemed to notice Emma get more and more hysterical as the day went on, but Hermione certainly did. She was bursting with anticipation for how her prank would be received, and when the other three finally left for dinner, Emma couldn't help laughing when she told them to 'Have fun!'.


	12. Chapter 12 - Raining Men

**Chapter 12 – Raining Men**

Emma sat in the library, eagerly awaiting the return of her friends, hopeful that everything had gone to plan. It would have been so easy for Draco to have noticed his trunk had been tampered with and dispel her charms, but when she heard laughter coming from outside the library, she knew it had worked.

Ron and Harry were still laughing, though they'd quietened down after a stern look from Madam Pince, and they both had tears in their eyes. Hermione on the other hand was a bit more composed, trying to look at Emma with a glare, but hopelessly failing and smirking. As much as Hermione wanted to castigate Emma, she clearly couldn't bring herself to do it.

'Fred and George really did it this time!' laughed Ron, quietly. 'That was brilliant!'

'It wasn't them.' said Hermione, looking pointedly at Emma. 'Didn't you hear, they said they'd kiss whoever did it, even if it was Professor Snape.'

'Who, did what?' asked Emma, as innocently as possible, and Hermione rolled her eyes.

'It was Draco.' sniggered Harry. 'You should have seen him...'

He couldn't even finish, he was shaking with laughter, all the while trying to keep quiet, and Ron was no better. Again, Hermione tried to look scathing, but she too was giggling.

'Half way through dinner, Draco stood up-' she said, interrupted by Ron snorting. 'and he started talking in a weird voice, about humidity and barometers.'

'And then he started singing!' laughed Ron, no longer able to keep quiet.

It got the four of them kicked out of the library, but it was getting late anyway, and she was sure none of the other students in the library minded, because they too were struggling not to laugh.

'And then...' said Ron, tears streaming down his face again. 'He got up on the table, and started dancing!'

'He was accidentally kicking plates of food off the table into other Slytherins.' smirked Hermione, as the boys howled with laughter.

'You should have seen Pansy Parkinson's face when he spilt a bowl of soup on her!' laughed Ron. 'She was livid!'

'At first, everyone thought he was going to make fun of someone, so they all just stared at him, but when he started singing, the whole school, even some of the Slytherins, were laughing at him!' smirked Harry.

'What was he singing?' asked Emma, again, trying to be innocent.

'No idea.' said Ron, confused. 'Never heard it before. The only bit I remember was him going on about _raining men_.'

Harry, and Hermione were sniggering more than ever. Having grown up with muggles, the both of them knew the song, even Harry, despite his terrible guardians.

'That was some very advanced magic, Emma, but you really shouldn't have done that.' said Hermione, finally able to at least try to be stern, even if she was still grinning.

'What?' gasped Harry and Ron together. 'It was _you_?'

'Hermione.' moaned Emma, before sighing. 'Yeah, it was me.'

'Brilliant!' shouted Ron.

'How did you do it?' asked Harry.

'You weren't even there.' said Ron.

'How _did_ you do it?' asked Hermione, curious.

'Wouldn't you like to know.' said Emma, smirking.

'Please tell us.' pleaded Harry.

'Can you do it again?' asked Ron.

'No and no.' said Emma firmly. 'I just did it because of what Draco called Hermione. As long as he's learned his lesson, I won't do it again.'

'Yes, that's what everyone thought at first.' said Harry. 'That it was the twins getting back at him for using the word Mudblood.'

Emma glared at him, causing him to flinch a little.

'I'm glad all you did was hit me, now.' said Ron, awed. 'I swear I won't be mean again.'

They were nearing the Gryffindor common room now, and Emma could hear some of the excited celebrations going on inside.

'You tell _anyone_ it was me, and I'll do the same to you, _understand_?' said Emma, glaring at the boys, and they both gulped and nodded. 'Good.' she giggled, before jumping inside the portrait hole.

'She's terrifying.' she heard Ron whisper to Harry, and smirked.

The prank was all anyone could talk about for weeks. Draco's reputation in Slytherin house was ruined, for the most part. He was still on the Quidditch team, but only because they were afraid that if they kicked him out, they'd lose their fancy new brooms his father had bought them. He still had Crabbe and Goyle following him around everywhere, maybe even more than normal, and yet, it seemed he hadn't completely learned his lesson. He was less vocal in general as someone would always retort with a quip about raining men, so instead he became more aggressive, using his bodyguards to push around the first-years if they got in his way.

Draco did, however, realise that calling Hermione a Mudblood was a bad thing to do. The current story for the cause of the prank was that it was revenge for the incident at the Quidditch pitch, and after the entire school had learned what he had done, they all felt it was deserved. Even most of the Slytherins were annoyed at him because it put all of them in a far more negative light than they were used to, even if they all still agreed with him.

Still, Harry and Ron kept their word, fearful of the repercussions, and nobody found out it was Emma. She was even surprised to know that not even Professor Snape was able to determine how it was done, as all of her charms faded from his clothes the moment he stopped singing and fled the Great Hall, mortified.

Everyone assumed he must have been hit with a spell during dinner, and since nobody saw anyone from a different house at the time, it could only have been someone in Slytherin, which was hilarious to watch, as they all became paranoid of each other, more so than normal.

It seemed that in one simple move, Emma had managed to destabilise the entire Slytherin house, at least temporarily, and all the other houses were loving it.

Of course, the prank wasn't the only thing on Emma's mind during September. Hermione's birthday was getting closer, and she finally heard back from Richard and Jane on the Monday evening following the prank. An owl arrived late at night, after Hermione had gone to bed, and it was carrying a long, thin box tied to it's leg and a letter in it's beak. She carefully untied the box and took the letter, before thanking the owl as it flew off.

She opened the letter first, and something fell out of it, a twenty-pound note, twice what she had asked for. Uncomfortable, she read the letter.

' _Dear Emma,_

 _It is good to hear from you. How is school? Have you been feeling all right? You haven't been getting into any trouble, we hope?_

 _Of course we can give you some money to help you buy some presents. If we knew you had so little we would have given you some before you left. How will you buy more school supplies, otherwise?_

 _We have also bought some thread like you asked. We know you only wanted two colours, but weren't sure which shade you might want, so we got you every colour._

 _Love, Jane and Richard.'_

Emma read the letter a few times, but had to stop when she couldn't read any more from the tears in her eyes. It was amazing what that one word at the end of the letter could do, and when she opened the box they had sent, she started crying properly again. Inside were a dizzying rainbow of threads in almost every colour she could imagine, and more than enough to make hundreds of bracelets. It was too much. She wasn't going to be able to pay them back for this.

She spent the next hour occasionally drying her eyes on her sleeves while making another bracelet for Hermione. The previous one was in the Gryffindor colours, but this one, as a mark of her intelligence, was blue and bronze, like the Ravenclaws. Hermione had said that the sorting hat nearly put her there, so she was sure to understand what Emma meant by it.

After that, Emma wrote a reply to Richard and Jane, thanking them for what they had done, and, like Hermione, was very honest with what had happened recently. Everything from her fits of anger, the crying, what Draco had said, and also the prank.

She was sure that they would think the prank was too much, but strangely, Emma hadn't gotten much satisfaction from it, and was still blisteringly angry at Draco, so she was beginning to think that it wasn't enough.

The next step in Emma's plan for Hermione's birthday was to exchange the muggle money she had received with Harry for four Galleons. She had to wait a day or two until they were in the library and Hermione had wandered off to get a book. They traded the money under the table as if they were doing something illegal, and, of course, because the exchange rate was slightly less than five-pounds per Galleon, Harry insisted on giving her one Sickle as well.

'Not a word to Hermione about this.' whispered Emma to him and he nodded.

'What are you getting her?' he asked, equally quiet.

'A book.' smiled Emma, as if it were obvious. 'What about you?'

'I don't know yet. I just don't want to get the same thing as you.'

When Hermione's birthday finally came round, Emma was waiting for her, as normal, in the common room.

'Morning, Hermione.' smiled Emma, indicating for Hermione to sit next to her, and then dropped the unwrapped, rather elaborate, thread bracelet into her palm. 'Happy birthday.'

Hermione's reaction was better than Emma could have hoped for. Last time, at Christmas, they'd been on opposite sides of the country, and even though Hermione had thanked Emma afterwards, and was wearing it, she did think that Hermione was just humouring her. Now though, it was clear she was happy with it, particularly when she lifted up her left sleeve and handed the bracelet back for Emma to tie it on, showing the Gryffindor one off in the process.

'Sorry I couldn't get you anything more.' said Emma, lying as deftly as she could.

The book Emma had ordered from Flourish and Blotts was surprisingly only one Galleon, and was specifically asked to turn up that morning with the owl post, though she'd had to give them two sickles to have it wrapped as a gift.

'It's all right, Emma, I know you don't have much money.' said Hermione, giving her a hug. 'Thank you, I really like them.'

Emma grinned in response. 'I'm glad.'

'So, which one are you making me for Christmas? Hufflepuff or Slytherin?' she asked, smirking.

'Come on, let's go to breakfast.' she said, pointedly avoiding the question.

Emma tried to remain still in her chair as she waited for the owl post to arrive, but she couldn't, and it showed. Hermione was going to say something, but the boys arrived with their presents. Ron, like usual, had put virtually no thought into his, and had bought her some sweets, however, Harry's was very thoughtful. It was a pack of very beautiful quills that were slightly iridescent. They must have cost him a lot of money. They distracted her long enough so that when Emma's present arrived, dropping onto her plate, Hermione was very surprised. Emma picked it up and immediately passed it to the side with a smirk.

' _Transformation Through the Ages_?' said Hermione, stunned, after she'd opened it. 'Emma, thank you! Professor McGonagall was talking about this book at the start of term and I really wanted to read it, though I guess you knew that, didn't you, or you would have gotten something else. How did you get it, anyway? Thank you!'

Emma giggled when Hermione finally stopped speed-talking and explained everything.

As September moved over into October, things began to settle down again. Draco was still getting taunted by many students, and Emma found herself glaring at him in every lesson she shared with the Slytherins. It seemed that as time went by, he got more and more dishevelled and agitated. Obviously Emma had done her prank very well, but she still didn't feel like he'd paid for what he had said.

The thing Emma was focussing most of her time on, however, was her map. Hermione had agreed to help her look for enchantments to use on the map to make it useful, but had set some conditions. Emma was made to promise not to use the map to break any school rules, though Hermione had excluded breaking curfew and any that would stop Emma from finding new areas, and of course, she agreed to it. Hermione was far better at searching through the library than she was, and the map was mostly just a learning experience anyway, to see if it could be done.

It hadn't taken the two of them very long to find the first spell that would be worthwhile adding. It was a very complicated spell called the _Homonculus Charm_ that when cast on a map, would enable it to show the position and name of all inhabitants in the mapped area as moving, labelled dots. The main reason for it's complexity was that it was said to be immune to nearly all kinds of concealment and disguises. It was also going to be remarkably tedious to use as it would only work on a single room or corridor at a time, and so, Emma was going to have to go throughout the school, casting the spell hundreds, maybe even thousands of times.

The moment they found it, they tested it, on a bit of scrap parchment that Emma had diligently drawn the library on, as accurately as she could, and they were amazed at the result when they finally got it to work, twenty attempts later. Suddenly, lots of dots appeared on the map, with small name tags. Not many of them were moving, as most students were working around tables, however, they could see Madam Pince's dot moving around, exactly where she was in the real library. It was wondrous.

'It's even tracking me.' said Emma, grinning, and pointing to herself on the map.

'Yes, I did wonder whether it would.' said Hermione. 'I guess you're human enough for the spell.'

' _Finite Incantatem._ ' whispered Emma, making the dots on the paper disappear.

'So what's next?' asked Hermione.

'I think we need a way of locking the map so only we can see it.' replied Emma, concerned. 'Imagine if Fred and George got their hands on it!'


	13. Chapter 13 - Deathday Party

**Chapter 13 – Deathday Party**

As the rest of October went by, Emma found herself getting increasingly frustrated. The restlessness she always seemed to get that made her feel like she needed to be on the move, always exploring, was getting worse. In lessons and the library she started to fidget more and more, and in the common room she would have to get up and start pacing back and forth, and it was driving Hermione, Harry and Ron mad.

Her anger wasn't helping matters either. She was still glaring at Draco in every lesson, and it was because of this that she noticed that his composure was breaking. As the month progressed, he became increasingly panicked, and would jump at the slightest of noises. Once, in Flitwick's lesson, Seamus performed a spell wrong, which was fairly normal for him, and it exploded, making Draco scream out loud. Everyone laughed at him, but he really looked terrified.

Emma tried to find it in her heart to feel sorry for him, but she couldn't. Even with everything that was going on with him, after his humiliation and now, whatever it was that was affecting him so much, she still felt that he wasn't suffering enough. She knew that she was being irrational, after all, he'd only called Hermione one bad word, but she couldn't help it.

Something else that Emma couldn't help, and was scared of, was a strange habit she had started to develop. While wandering the halls, if there was someone in front of her, she would unconsciously start to follow them, to match her step with theirs, and sometimes even hide herself. It would be distracting enough that she wouldn't hear Hermione talking. The scariest part was that it eased her feeling of restlessness, ever so slightly, and it reminded her of when Ron and Hermione had been bitten by pixies. She felt that she was hunting the other students when she was doing it, and it worried her.

Emma tried to stop herself from following people and attempt to keep her mind occupied, but as she got more agitated, she couldn't stop. After trailing Draco from one class to another, she actually started doing it more often, staying close behind him, everywhere he went around the school, learning his routine and studying him. It eased her feelings of restlessness more than following any one else did, especially as her anger toward him hadn't gone anywhere.

Emma's behaviour continued like that, until it came to Hallowe'en. Harry had accidentally gotten himself invited to Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday Party, and Emma was looking forward to it. She hadn't spoken to many of the ghosts during her time at the school, and she thought that it would be a perfect opportunity to learn a little more about them.

'I bet there aren't many living people who can say they've been to one of those – it'll be fascinating!' said Hermione, at the time they found out.

Ron had immediately disagreed, saying it sounded depressing, but they all went anyway, though both Harry and Ron started regretting their decision as the halls filled with the smell of the upcoming Hallowe'en feast. Emma, however, couldn't wait to get away from the stink.

'A promise is a promise.' said Hermione to Harry, bossily. 'You _said_ you'd go to the Deathday Party.'

So, at seven o'clock that evening, Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron walked passed the doorway to the Great Hall, which Emma could tell the other three were looking at longingly, and descended toward the dungeons.

As they arrived into the passageway leading to Nearly Headless Nick's party, they saw that it had been lined with candles, though they were black, and gave off an eerily blue light that made the four of them look incredibly pale. Emma noticed the other three shiver as they got closer, so it must have been very cold.

Emma had heard from other students that when a ghost flew through you, it felt like someone drenching you in a bucket of cold water, but Emma had never noticed. It just sent a strange tingle down her spine, however, with such a large gathering of ghosts, she supposed that it would be enough to chill the surrounding area.

Apart from the candles, they could also hear some noises coming from the room they were going to. It sounded like thousands of nails scraping a blackboard.

'Is that supposed to be _music_?' whispered Ron.

When they turned the corner, they saw Nearly Headless Nick standing in a doorway hung with black velvet drapes.

'My dear friends,' he said, mournfully. 'welcome, welcome … so pleased you could come...'

The room they entered was eerily beautiful and Emma had never seen so many ghosts in one place. There were some scattered around the edges of the room while others were drifting and crowding around a dance floor, waltzing to the unbearable noise that the orchestra was playing.

Emma just walked in, beaming, but Hermione, Harry and Ron were behaving as if they'd just walked into a freezer.

'Shall we have a look around?' suggested Harry.

'Careful not to walk through anyone.' said Ron, nervously.

Emma followed beside the others around the dance floor as they desperately tried to avoid the ghosts near them. She recognised some of them, including the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost, the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost, as well as Peeves and even Myrtle had left her bathroom to join.

Myrtle was a nice, if somewhat depressed, young ghost that lived in the girl's bathroom on the first floor. It was because of Myrtle that no girl ever used that bathroom unless they had no other choice. She would take to flooding the room in one of her outbursts, or could be found wailing. It was very unpleasant to go to the loo when all you could hear was her crying. It earned her the moniker Moaning Myrtle, which Emma thought wasn't very nice.

'Look, food!' said Ron, longingly.

Emma had been wondering what she could smell, though it seemed fouler than most human food. When they reached a long table covered in more black velvet on the other side of the room, the others agreed. Emma couldn't get close to it because the smell was vile. It looked like there were plates of rotten fish, cakes charred black, and there was even a haggis that had maggots in it. The sound of those alone was enough to make Emma feel sick.

In the centre of the table though, was a large grey cake in the shape of a tombstone, with black icing forming the epitaph of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, whose date of death was 31 October, 1492.

The four of them watched as a portly ghost approached the table and floated through it, with his mouth open at the same height as the food, as if trying to eat it.

'Can you taste it if you walk through it?' asked Harry.

'Almost.' said the ghost, sadly, before drifting away.

'I expect they've let it rot to give it a stronger flavour.' said Hermione, knowledgeably, pinching her nose to get a look at the putrid haggis.

'Can we move? I feel sick.' said Ron, and Emma agreed.

They hadn't gotten far, however, when Peeves, a short man, and a poltergeist, flew at them from under the table. He was wearing a bright orange party hat and a revolving bow-tie, and, as always, grinning from ear to ear, wickedly.

'Hello, Peeves.' said Harry cautiously.

'Nibbles?' he said, sweetly, offering them a bowl of peanuts covered in fungus.

'No, thank you.' said Emma.

'Ooooh, if it isn't ickle miss Sneaky Pear.' he cackled.

'It's Pearson, Peeves,' sighed Emma, who nodded in the Bloody Baron's direction and then waved at Peeves. 'Bye.'

He glared at her and then flew off to upset Myrtle, by throwing peanuts through her.

'What was _that_?' asked Ron, incredulous.

'Peeves and I have a... mutual understanding.' said Emma, off-handedly.

The truth was that Peeves had caught Emma sneaking around a few weeks ago, very late at night, after she had run right into him. He had caught her off-guard because, for once, he wasn't making any noise. He hounded her every night after that, saying he would tell a teacher, until Emma got her own back a few days later. She'd started hiding everywhere she went, so when she found him, unaware, she overheard him say some very nasty things about the Bloody Baron, and she confronted him about it. Afterwards, they both agreed to keep quiet. It was a tentative truce, but it was holding up for now.

Nearly Headless Nick drifted towards them from the crowd after that.

'Enjoying yourselves?' he asked.

'Oh, yes.' they all said.

Emma felt like she was the only one that actually meant it, though Hermione in particular was shaking like a leaf, and her nose and ears were going very red, so Emma assumed they must all be chilled to the bone by now.

'Not a bad turnout.' said Nicholas, proudly, as he looked around the room. 'The Wailing Widow came all the way up from Kent … It's nearly time for my speech, I'd better go and warn the orchestra...'

'Here.' said Emma, taking off her cloak and putting it around Hermione as Nick walked away.

Hermione tried to refuse, but her teeth were chattering. 'Look, you're cold, I'm not, so wear it, please.'

'How are you _not_ cold?' stuttered Ron, incredulous. 'It's _freezing_ in here!'

' _Please_ ,' said Emma, dismissively. 'The orphanage gets colder than this in the winter.'

Emma had no idea whether that was actually true or not, but the orphanage did get extremely cold sometimes, from what she remembered, so it felt true.

'Thanks, Em...ma.' stuttered Hermione, once Emma had fastened the cloak onto her robes.

A moment later, a loud hunting horn went off, and everyone, including the orchestra went quiet, and looked around in excitement, except Nicholas that is.

'Oh, here we go.' he muttered, bitterly.

Suddenly, a whole hunting party of roughly a dozen men and horses burst through one of the walls of the dungeon. All of the riders were headless, and Emma realised why Nearly Headless Nick was so annoyed, however, everyone else clapped wildly at their dramatic entrance.

The leader of the group, whose head was under his arm, blowing the hunting horn, stopped and got down. He then lifted his head high in the air so he could see over the crowd and strode over to Nearly Headless Nick, earning some laughs from the other ghosts.

What followed was an uncomfortable conversation between the two of them where Patrick, the headless horseman, made jokes at Nick's expense, due to not being beheaded properly, and then embarrassed him by interrupting his speech. Emma thought for a moment that Patrick was what Lockhart would be like if he were a headless horseman, but then she quickly stopped, before she got any ideas.

'I can't stand any more of this.' muttered Ron, teeth chattering, as the orchestra started playing again.

'Let's go.' agreed Harry.

'That was really interesting.' beamed Emma, as they left the room.

'At least one of us enjoyed it, I suppose.' said Ron, glumly.

'I did too!' snapped Hermione as they got to the stairs leading to the Entrance Hall. 'I just wish it would have been a bit warmer.'

'Pudding might not be finished yet.' said Ron, hopefully, ignoring Hermione.

Strangely, just as Emma heard a weird and faint rustling sound, Harry stopped dead in his tracks. He started looking around as if he too had heard something, but that wasn't possible, Emma barely heard it herself, and her hearing was far superior to his.

'Harry, what're you-?' asked Ron.

'It's that voice again – shut up a minute -'

The voice, yes, Harry mentioned that soon after his detention, but the prank Emma was planning made her forget all about it. Apparently he'd heard a voice saying it was going to kill, however, Lockhart hadn't heard it, so Emma assumed Harry was imagining things.

'Listen!' said Harry, urgently, and the three of them watched him.

There it was again, a very faint, strange noise. It was so quiet Emma couldn't tell which direction it was coming from, especially not in these echoey dungeons.

'You mean that rustling noise?' she asked, curious.

'No, it's a voice. This way.' he shouted.

They followed him up the stairs, into the Entrance Hall and up the marble staircase to the first floor. The further they went, the better Emma could hear it. How on Earth was Harry doing this. Even now, when she could tell they were close, she still had no idea where the sound was coming from, and it certainly wasn't a voice.

'Harry, what are we-' complained Ron.

'SHH!'

Harry stopped, looked around again, straining himself to hear whatever it was that was making the noise.

'It's going to kill someone!' he shouted, ignoring the three of them and then ran off again.

He flew up the stairs to the second floor, three at a time, and then around almost the entire second floor. Emma had no trouble keeping up, but Hermione and Ron were having difficulty, panting as they tried, until Harry stopped dead again when they rounded a corner.

'Harry, _what_ was that all about?' said Ron, wiping sweat off his face. 'I couldn't hear anything...'

'Mrs Norris?' asked Emma, out-loud. Her sight was better than the others, particularly in the dimly lit corridor, and she could clearly see the cat dangling from a torch bracket. Next to her, between two windows, was some writing that looked and smelled to have been painted with blood.

 _THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED._

 _ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE._

Hermione gasped as she saw the writing, and Mrs Norris, and the four of them went closer to inspect it. Mrs Norris was hanging by her tail and as stiff as if she were made of stone, and her eyes were unusually wide-open, staring. It was creepy. Also, curiously, the floor was covered in water, and they made splashing sounds as they approached.

'Let's get out of here!' said Ron, urgently.

'Shouldn't we try and help?' asked Harry, awkwardly.

'Trust me.' hissed Ron. 'We don't want to be found here!'

It was too late though. The feast had just finished and Emma could already hear the sound of hundreds of students approaching them, from all sides. Short of figuring out a way of hiding Hermione, Harry and Ron with her ability, there was no way they wouldn't be caught. This wasn't going to be pleasant.


	14. Chapter 14 - The Chamber

**Chapter 14 – The Chamber**

As all of the students got closer, and began to notice the grizzly scene in front of them, Emma started to get very nervous. All eyes were on her, as well as Hermione, Harry and Ron, though because Harry was the most well known, most looked to him.

Emma could see Draco, who, hiding a little further in the crowd, looked at the sign on the wall, and then at Hermione, and a faint grin appeared on his face, clearly thinking something mean about her. Emma glared at him, and even though he hadn't noticed, having turned around to witness Filch's arrival, he quickly returned to his cowering, nervous demeanour.

'What's going on here? What's going on?' growled Filch as he barged through the crowd.

Nobody said anything, and when he saw Mrs Norris dangling from the torch bracket, he looked stricken.

'My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs Norris?' he shrieked.

Within seconds his beady eyes fell on the four of them, or rather, on Harry.

' _You!_ ' he screeched. ' _You!_ You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-'

' _Argus!_ ' said a voice that could only be Dumbledore.

He had just arrived, followed by more teachers than Emma had ever seen in one place outside of the Great Hall. He quickly swept past everyone and took Mrs Norris down.

'Come with me, Argus.' he said to Filch. 'You too, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Miss Granger, and Miss Pearson.'

Dumbledore had barely finished speaking before Lockhart stepped forward, eagerly.

'My office is nearest, Headmaster – just upstairs – please feel free -'

'Thank you, Gilderoy.' said Dumbledore.

The crowd that had been stunned to silence parted to let the headmaster through, followed closely by Lockhart, Filch, McGonagall, Snape, and of course, Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron.

Once they had gotten into Lockhart's office, a veritable shrine of self-aggrandisement, Dumbledore placed Mrs Norris on the desk and began to examine her. Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron just sank into some chairs at the back of the room and watched, nervously.

Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall spent quite a long time studying the poor cat while Snape loomed over them, clearly enjoying this. He was probably certain that Harry, and Ron would be expelled for this. Lockhart, as oblivious to the situation as always, was going on and on about what he thought must have killed the cat, claiming that if he had been there, he could have saved her. He was really getting on Emma's nerves.

'She's not dead, Argus.' said Dumbledore, softly, after a time.

'Not dead?' choked Filch. 'But why's she all – all stiff and frozen?'

'She has been Petrified.' said Dumbledore.

'Ah! I thought so!' said Lockhart, triumphantly, even though he'd been saying she was dead this whole time.

'But how, I cannot say...' finished Dumbledore, as if he had not even heard Lockhart.

'Ask _him_!' shrieked Filch, turning his teary, red-eyed face to Harry.

Emma blocked out most of what Filch had to say. He was clearly in the anger stage of grief. He was being irrational, and most of the teachers seemed to agree. Though Emma did start to pay attention again when Snape added his opinion.

'If I might speak, Headmaster.' he said. 'Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why were they in the upstairs corridor at all? Why weren't they at the Hallowe'en feast?'

Hermione, Harry and Ron started explaining, hurriedly, about the Deathday party, and saying that hundreds of ghosts could corroborate that they had been there.

'But why not join the feast afterwards?' replied Snape, a gleam in his eye. 'Why go up to that corridor.'

Hermione and Ron looked to Harry for an answer, but Emma replied first. Harry was a rubbish liar.

'Because we were heading back up to the common room, and that's one of the shortest routes.' she said, silkily.

'Without supper?' asked Snape, a triumphant smile flickering across his face.

'No?' said Emma, feigning a confused and vulnerable tone. 'I got some food from the kitchens earlier today, because I'm scared to eat in the Great Hall in front of other people, and I thought we might not leave the party until after the feast was over, and...'

She let her voice trail off and looked down at her feet, letting her emotion seal the lie. Snape looked taken aback and then appraised the other three. Hermione had picked up on the lie quickly, and was trying to look at Emma with pity, while Harry and Ron just tried not to look surprised. Snape just sighed indignantly and swished his cloak as he slinked back into the darkness, away from the candlelight.

Dumbledore and McGonagall were looking between Emma and Harry. They both knew Emma was lying.

'Innocent until proven guilty.' said Dumbledore, lightly, toward Filch and Snape, as they were both insistent that Harry did it, despite what had been said, and they were furious.

'My cat has been Petrified!' shrieked Filch. 'I want to see some _punishment_!'

'We will be able to cure her, Argus.' said Dumbledore, patiently. 'Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made which will revive Mrs Norris.'

Lockhart immediately offered, saying he could brew it in his sleep, but he quickly backed down with a very icy retort from Snape saying that _he_ was the potions master.

'You may go.' said Dumbledore to Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron.

They all left the room as quickly as they could without running, and Emma led them back up to the Gryffindor Tower.

'Do you really have food back at the common room?' asked Ron, nearly drooling.

'Of course not.' said Emma, simply, without turning around, and Ron just sulked.

'Do you think I should have told them about the voice I heard?' asked Harry, changing the subject.

'No.' said Ron, without hesitation. 'Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world.'

'You do believe me, don't you?' asked Harry, after a short pause.

'I do.' said Emma. 'I heard something as well, and the closer you lead us to it, the louder it got, but I couldn't hear any voice. It was weird, like something being dragged around.'

'The whole thing's weird.' said Ron.

'I know.' said Harry, agitated. 'What was that writing on the wall about? _The Chamber has been opened_ … what's that supposed to mean?'

'You know, it rings a sort of bell.' said Ron, slowly. 'I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once … might've been Bill...'

After that, Harry and Ron started talking about Filch, and squibs, until they heard a clock chime midnight and they all sped up before Snape could catch them.

Over the next few days, the school could talk about little else besides the attack on Mrs Norris and the writing on the wall. Hermione had put herself into overdrive, trying to figure out anything she could about the _Chamber of Secrets_ , but she wasn't having much luck.

She'd tried to get _Hogwarts: A History_ from the library, because she'd left her copy at home, but it had been booked out, and there was a two-week waiting list. She'd also tried to look in other books, but there was no mention of it anywhere.

So it was, during a History of Magic lesson, with everyone trying to take notes and not fall asleep, that Emma noticed Hermione put her hand up to ask the teacher, Professor Binns, a question. It took him a few minutes to finally look up from his notes, before he noticed, and looked right at her, amazed.

'Miss – er -?'

'Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the _Chamber of Secrets_?' she asked in a clear voice.

'My subject is History of Magic.' he said, flatly. 'I deal with _facts_ , Miss Granger, not myths and legends.'

He cleared his throat and immediately began to recite from his notes, until he stuttered to a stop. Hermione had put her hand up again.

'Miss Grant?'

'Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?' she asked.

'Well,' replied Binns, slowly. 'yes, one could argue that, I suppose.'

After making it clear that he thought the tale was utter nonsense, he explained that the Chamber was built by Salazar Slytherin, after his falling out with the other founders over who could be permitted entry to the school to learn. He, of course, was a pure-blood ideologist, like many who dwell in his house even now, while the others, particularly Godric Gryffindor, were more willing to let Muggle-borns in. Binns continued to say that the legends suggest that Salazar locked the chamber so that only he or his heirs could open it, and release a horror, a monster, that would purge the school of those unworthy to study magic.

Emma immediately looked to Hermione after she heard that, and she was worried. Hermione was the most well known muggle-born in the entire school, notably because of her intelligence, but more importantly, because of Emma's prank, and the news that Draco had called her a Mudblood.

Angry now, Emma turned to Draco, glared at him again, and conjured up a lot of violent thoughts that she would love to perform on him, but couldn't. Again, Draco was cowering in his seat, looking terrified, but Emma didn't care. For all she knew, he was the heir.

'I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony.' said Ron as they left the class into the crowded corridor. 'But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home...'

'The hat tried to put me in Slytherin.' said Emma, nonchalantly.

'Why does that not surprise me.' smirked Hermione, but Ron looked at Emma like she'd just confessed to a murder.

'It did?' asked Harry, more interested than Emma thought he would have been. 'Then why didn't it put you there?'

'I asked it not to, because I'm not evil.'

Ron looked a little better after that, though it was clear he now distrusted Emma, but they were quickly distracted by a passing Colin Creevy.

'Hiya, Harry!' he beamed.

'Hullo, Colin.' said Harry, monotonously.

'Harry – Harry – a boy in my class has been saying you're-'

Before he could finish he had been taken up by the tide of students and led away from them.

'What's a boy in his class saying about you?' asked Hermione, ever curious.

'That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect.' replied Harry, sombrely.

'People here'll believe anything.' said Ron, in disgust. 'D'you _really_ think there's a Chamber of Secrets?'

'I don't know.' said Hermione, frowning. 'Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be – well – human.'

'Does it really matter?' mused Emma, who received three curious looks. 'Mrs Norris was petrified, and obviously someone, or something, did that to her, but what if the Chamber of Secrets is just a diversion?'

'What makes you think that?' asked Hermione, intrigued.

'It's what I would do.' shrugged Emma. 'Get everyone's attention on this big mystery surrounding a legend nobody has been able to solve in over a thousand years, while I'd be somewhere else, doing whatever it is I wanted to do.'

'No wonder the hat wanted to put you in Slytherin.' said Ron, concerned. 'Are you sure you're not evil?'

Emma just kept walking, blocking out the rest of the conversation as the crowd jostled them onward, until, after a short while, they found themselves on the same corridor with the writing on the wall, and it was now deserted.

'Can't hurt to have a poke around.' said Harry, who went to inspect the scene.

They found a small group of spiders, curiously, fighting each other to escape through a small hole in a window. None of them had seen spiders ever behave like that before, particularly Ron, who was afraid of them, which Emma and Hermione found amusing.

'Looks like Filch mopped up the flood Myrtle left.' said Emma, changing the subject.

'Who?' asked Harry and Ron together, and Hermione sighed a little.

'Myrtle.' repeated Emma, going to the bathroom door opposite the writing on the wall. 'She lives in here.'

'We can't go in there,' said Ron, gruffly. 'that's a girl's toilet.'

'Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there.' said Hermione, following Emma inside and ignoring the 'Out of Order' sign.

Once the four of them were inside, the boys finally met Myrtle, and Harry asked whether she knew anything about what happened outside her bathroom, but she didn't. Peeves had upset her and she'd flooded the place, and hidden in the U-bend. The conversation ended when, as usual, Ron said something insensitive and Myrtle wailed again, and flew right into one of the toilets, splashing the four of them with water.

Later that evening, when they had returned to the common room, neither of them could concentrate on their work properly. Emma was pacing, feeling more restless than normal, Ron was angry with Percy for yelling at them earlier because they'd been in a girls bathroom, and kept blotting his homework, while Hermione had just slammed her book shut.

'Who can it be, though?' she said, quietly, as if continuing a conversation. 'Who'd want all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?'

'Draco.' said Emma, immediately, and both Harry and Ron nodded in agreement.

'You really think so?' asked Hermione, sceptical.

'Look at his family,' said Harry. 'The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin, he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough.'

'They could have had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!' said Ron. 'Handing it down, father to son...'

'Well,' said Hermione. 'I suppose it's possible...'

'But how do we prove it?' asked Harry, glaring.

'There might be a way.' said Hermione, slowly, lowering her voice, and glancing around the room. 'Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect.'

'If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?' said Ron irritably, before he received a smack on the head from Emma.

'All right,' said Hermione, smirking slightly at Ron's expression. 'What we'd need to do is get inside the Slytherin common room, and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realising it's us.'

'But that's impossible.' said Harry, and Ron perked up enough to laugh.

'Well, the first part is easy.' said Emma, simply. 'But the second, you don't mean you want to try the Polyjuice Potion, do you?'

'I do.' replied Hermione, gravely, and the boys looked at the two of them, confused.

'Okay, I'm in.' grinned Emma. 'Hermione Granger, breaking school rules, whatever next.'

Hermione giggled, but the boys still looked lost.

'What are you two on about?'

'Snape mentioned the Polyjuice Potion in class a few weeks ago-' said Hermione, before Ron had started to interrupt, but a glare from Emma shut him up. 'It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into four of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him.'

'This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me.' frowned Ron. 'What if we were stuck looking like Slytherins forever.'

'It wears off after a while,' said Hermione, waving his objection away with her hands. 'but getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called _Moste_ _Potente_ _Potions_ and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library.

'I could probably steal it.' mused Emma. 'Though it'd likely take me weeks to find.'

'No,' said Harry. 'Who knows what charms those books have on them to stop students doing that.'

Harry would say that, wouldn't he. He and Emma had been in the restricted section once before, last year during Christmas, and Harry had opened a book which immediately started screaming. Neither of them wanted to repeat that.

'We'll have to get it the normal way.' he finished.

'Hard to see why we'd want the book, really,' said Ron. 'if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions.'

'I think,' said Hermione. 'that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance...'

'Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that.' said Ron. 'They'd have to be really thick...'

Emma immediately started laughing, this was really going to be fun after all.


	15. Chapter 15 – Larceny

**Chapter 15 – Larceny**

Professor Lockhart's lessons had become almost as dull as History of Magic after the disaster that was the Pixie incident. It was only saved due to the fact that Lockhart's books were actually written quite well, even if they were works of fiction. He would spend most of the time reading them to the class, and occasionally he would even re-enact some of the more dramatic scenes. In an attempt to lower Harry's reputation, Emma supposed, Lockhart would get him to perform as some of the monsters from the books as needed.

Emma had never enjoyed watching Harry get embarrassed, playing horribly stereotyped monsters, but she had been dreading this lesson the most. It was because this was the one about the vampire, the one Lockhart had supposedly made only able to eat lettuce, and she was glaring a little at him. He quickly got to a point where he needed someone to play the vampire, and Hermione nudged Emma, jokingly, and Emma just grimaced. As usual though, he picked Harry, and it was truly unbearable.

Emma could tell that Harry was really putting some effort into his depiction of a vampire, because the four of them were planning on exploiting Lockhart's arrogance, and they needed to butter him up, but Emma couldn't watch. She just sat there, forehead on the table and her hands on her ears.

'So, is he doing it right?' whispered Hermione, enough for Emma to hear, and giggled quietly.

'Please, make it stop.' moaned Emma, banging her forehead on the table.

'It'll be over soon, just a bit longer.' grinned Hermione, patting Emma's arm.

Emma knew that Hermione was only making light of the situation because she was nervous. The night before, when they decided that they were going to try to get Lockhart to sign their permission slip for the _Moste Potente Potions_ book, Emma, Harry and Ron had agreed that Hermione would be the best one to do it, but she wasn't so sure.

'But, Emma, you're a much better liar than me.' she said, nervously.

'I know.' smiled Emma. 'I'm also one of his worst students. You're his favourite.'

Hermione grimaced a little. 'If I can't get him to sign it, we'll lose our chance. None of the other teachers will help.'

'There's always plan B; I steal it.' grinned Emma, until she turned serious again. 'You'll do fine. Lockhart will be easy. He'll sign anything if it sits still long enough.'

'All right.' said Hermione, still nervous, and the boys cheered. 'You'll help me though, won't you?'

'Of course.' replied Emma.

Emma had then spent the next half an hour or so giving Hermione some tips to help with Lockhart. It would be incredibly simple to do, he was full of himself and so, keeping the subject about him or his books would make him extremely malleable. A little flattery wouldn't go a miss either.

So it was, when the torturous lesson ended, and Harry had returned to his seat to pack his bag, he waited in the middle of the class with Ron as Hermione and Emma walked to the front.

'Er – Professor Lockhart? We wanted to – to get this book out of the library.' she stammered, nervously. 'Just for a bit of background reading.'

She handed over a small piece of paper with the name of the book they wanted written on it, shaking slightly.

'But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so we need a teacher to sign for it – I'm sure it would help us understand what you say in _Gadding with Ghouls_ about slow-acting venoms...'

' _Excellent._ ' thought Emma, to herself, nodding to Hermione and trying to keep her face passive.

'Ah, _Gadding with Ghouls_!' said Lockhart, excitedly, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her. 'Possibly my favourite book. You enjoyed it?'

'Oh, yes.' the two of them said in tandem, before Hermione continued. 'So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer...'

'Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student in the year a little extra help.' said Lockhart, warmly, pulling out a garishly flamboyant quill and scrawled his very loopy signature onto the note, and handed it back to Hermione.

'So, Harry,' said Lockhart, raising his voice so Harry could hear, as Hermione quickly slipped the note into her bag before he changed his mind. 'tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe?'

Emma immediately blocked out the rest of the conversation and started leaving with Hermione, shortly followed by the boys.

'I don't believe it,' said Harry, as they examined the note. 'He didn't even _look_ at the book we wanted.'

'That's because he's a brainless git.' said Ron.

'That's not true. He knows Hermione's the best student in the year.' said Emma, smirking, making Hermione blush.

'At least we've got what we needed.' said Harry.

They quietened down as they entered the library. It wouldn't do to get kicked out again before they'd gotten the book.

' _Moste Potente Potions_?' said Madam Pince, suspiciously, taking the note from Hermione.

She held the note up to the light, obviously trying to detect a forgery, but she eventually relented and disappeared into the Restricted Section for a few minutes before returning with a large and mouldy-looking book. Hermione carefully slipped it into her bag and they left, trying not to look too guilty.

A few minutes later, they were headed to Myrtle's bathroom. Ron objected at first, but Emma and Hermione had insisted that everyone avoided it, so it was the perfect place to do something illicit. Myrtle was happy, in a manner of speaking, to leave the four of them alone as Hermione and Emma sat next to each other and began reading through the book, with the boys sat opposite them.

As they browsed, it was clear why the book was restricted. The potions seemed to be very unpleasant, if the pictures of their affects were anything to go by. A couple of the less gruesome potions caught Emma's eye, and she had an idea to memorise them later, just in-case.

'Here it is.' said Hermione, excitedly, as she turned over a page.

While the artwork for the potion seemed to be quite tame compared with the other potions, it still didn't look pleasant. The expressions on the pictures seemed to suggest they were in a lot of pain.

'What do you think?' asked Hermione to Emma. 'It's the most complicated potion I've ever seen.'

'I don't think even sixth years would be expected to be able to brew a potion this intricate.' exclaimed Emma, taking in the ingredient list. 'Most of the ingredients look easy enough, though.'

'Look there though, powdered horn of Bicorn and shredded skin of a Boomslang. They'll be tricky.' said Hermione, frowning.

'Don't forget the bit of whoever you want to change into.' added Emma.

'Excuse me?' said Ron, incredulous. 'What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking _nothing_ with Crabbe's toenails in it...'

'Well, how else is the potion going to know who to change you into?' asked Emma, rhetorically.

'We don't have to worry about that yet, anyway, because we add those bits last...'

Ron turned to Harry, speechless, who had his own worries.

'D'you realise how much we're going to have to steal? Shredded skin of Boomslang, that's definitely not in the students' cupboard. What're we going to do, break into Snape's private stores? I don't know if this is a good idea...'

Hermione snapped the book shut, loudly, and it echoed around the bathroom for a second.

'Well, if you two are going to chicken out, fine.' she said, cheeks flushing in anger or frustration. ' _I_ don't want to break rules, you know. _I_ think threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing up a difficult potion. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, I'll go straight to Madam Pince now and hand the book back in...'

During the whole of Hermione's outburst, Emma was just grinning ear to ear. She knew Hermione had it in her.

'I never thought I'd see the day when you'd be persuading us to break rules.' said Ron. 'All right, we'll do it. But no toenails, OK?'

'How long will it take to make, anyway?' asked Harry, as Hermione opened the book again, with a smile on her face.

'Well, the lacewings will have to be stewed for twenty-one days, so...' said Emma, trailing off.

'About a month.' finished Hermione.

'A _month?'_ exclaimed Ron. 'Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!'

There was a short exchange between Ron and Hermione then, as she glared at him, but Emma missed it. Ron just reminded her of the very reason they were doing this, that Hermione was in more danger than almost anyone else in the school. She really wanted to strangle Draco right now.

'So how are we going to get the ingredients?' asked Harry. 'We can't exactly just walk into Snape's private store.'

'Oh, you worry too much.' grinned Emma. 'That'll be easy.'

'You know, Emma, when you smile like that, it makes me worried!' said Ron, nervously.

'There's a Quidditch match tomorrow isn't there?' asked Emma. 'Who's playing?'

'It's us against the Slytherin's.' replied Harry, his face darkening, probably reminded by how much better the Slytherin brooms were now.

 _'Perfect!_ ' beamed Emma. 'Snape won't miss that for anything. I'll steal all the ingredients then, and it means I get to miss the game, even better!'

Hermione rolled her eyes and giggled.

The next morning, Emma was lying on a sofa in the common room, with Nephthys on her stomach, again. It had become a routine. In the two months since Emma had gotten Nephthys, she'd noticed the bird had gotten much bigger, and was now nearly full size. Even though Emma wasn't sure, she thought that Nephthys wasn't a fledgeling any more, and her flying had improved immensely. She could perform all kinds of aerobatic manoeuvres and loved to play and show off. Nephthys had also gotten very good at replicating sounds she heard. She still relied mostly on the tell-tale throaty caw, but had learned to replicate a few other bird calls, and even some simple words. Emma actually found that it was sometimes very difficult to keep her entertained, and Hermione had once joked that, because of Nephy's intelligence, it was probably like raising a human child.

They had to part ways, however, when Hermione, Harry and Ron had come down for breakfast, and Emma joined them. The Great Hall was very near the stairs to the dungeons and Emma's mission, and she wanted to keep an eye on Snape, to make sure he had left for the Quidditch pitch. She also watched the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and they all looked dejected, particularly Harry. Oliver Wood, the captain, had told Harry to win the match quickly, or die trying. Emma wasn't happy with that.

'Good luck.' said Hermione to Emma, smiling, as they got up to leave the Great Hall.

'I think I'm a bad influence on you, Hermione.' grinned Emma. 'I like it!'

Hermione just rolled her eyes and left with the boys. Emma, however, stayed behind, hidden in a corner of the Entrance Hall, as she waited for Snape to finally leave.

The theft itself went mostly without incident. She first broke into Snape's personal store cupboard, using a simple unlocking charm, and took the powdered horn of Bicorn as well as the shredded skin of a Boomslang. Annoyingly, Snape didn't have much of either, so he was certainly going to know some had been stolen, and that was unfortunate. Snape would know immediately that someone was making Polyjuice, especially if he noticed the other ingredients missing from the students' store cupboard. It was because of this that Emma decided to steal a number of other ingredients, that way he wouldn't know what the culprit was making. After stealing the rest of the ingredients from the students' cupboard, and topping up her own ingredient supply while she was at it, she left, making sure to relock Snape's supply.

Emma quickly made her way back up to Myrtle's bathroom, and just in time too. Apparently the Quidditch match was over, and everyone was returning to the castle, including Snape. Hiding herself the entire way, Emma sneaked in, expecting to see the other three, but didn't, so she decided to get on with the most time consuming part of the potion; stewing the lacewings.

About an hour later, Hermione and Ron arrived, without Harry, and they looked shaken.

'What's wrong?' asked Emma, almost at once.

'Harry got injured by an enchanted Bludger.' said Hermione.

'A what?' asked Emma, confused.

'One of the balls in Quidditch.' replied Hermione, sighing. 'It hit him on the arm, and broke it, but then Lockhart tried to heal it.'

Emma groaned. 'It failed, didn't it?'

'Yeah.' said Ron, angrily. 'It didn't fix his bones, it removed them.'

'Harry's all right, though, isn't he?'

'Yeah, he just has to stay overnight to regrow them.' said Hermione. 'Did you get everything?'

'Yeap!'

Emma unloaded the hoard from her bag onto the floor for Hermione to look through. 'Before you ask, it was to stop Snape from guessing we're making Polyjuice.'

Hermione nodded her head, absent mindedly, and the two of them got to work sorting the ingredients before they headed to the library to get on with some homework.

Later that night, after the others had gone to bed, Emma did her normal rounds exploring. First she went up to Barnabas, who, again, ignored everything she tried. She then continued methodically casting the _Homonculus Charm_ in a number of corridors and rooms on the upper floors, slowly working her way down. When she'd had enough of the monotony, and was getting very restless, she made herself unnoticeable and ran as fast as she could, aimlessly.

When Emma had gotten to a point roughly half way between the Gryffindor common room and the Hospital Wing, she came across something curious. There, on the floor, were what looked like grapes on a vine, and as she turned the corner, she found a horrible sight. Laying on his side, was Colin Creevy, the excitable little first-year. It was as if he had been turned to stone and had simply fallen over. He was still holding his camera out in front of his face. Emma knew this was Mrs Norris all over again. Colin was a muggle-born, his camera was evidence enough for that, but he'd also told nearly everyone.

There was only one thing Emma felt that she could do, and it was going to end badly. She immediately turned and ran toward Professor McGonagall's office. She would have gone to Dumbledore as he was less likely to punish her for being out after hours, but she had no idea what his password was.

Once she got to McGonagall's office, she knocked on the door, hard, repeatedly, until it opened, and immediately started talking before McGonagall could interrupt her.

'Sorry, Professor, I know you're going to give me detention or lose house points for being out after hours, but I think Colin Creevy's been petrified, like Mrs Norris.'

McGonagall's very cross expression changed, first to confusion, and then to urgency. 'Very well, lead on!'

She didn't even go back inside to get changed out of her nightgown. When they came across Colin's body again, McGonagall gasped, unusually emotional.

'Right, Miss Pearson, wait here while I get the Headmaster.' she snapped, before leaving and muttering under her breath, probably not expecting Emma to be able to hear it. 'And _this_ is exactly _why_ we prohibit pupils from going out after hours.'

She returned a short while later, joined by Dumbledore, who was wearing a long woolly dressing gown and nightcap.

'Hello there, Miss Pearson.' said Dumbledore, solemnly. 'What do we have here?'

'Hello, Professor.' replied Emma, sheepishly. 'I found Colin like this, I didn't touch anything, I promise. I went straight to Professor McGonagall as soon as I found him. I know I shouldn't have been out after hours, but, if I hadn't...' she trailed off.

'Very good.' he replied softly, motioning for McGonagall to pick up Colin's feet, and then both he and McGonagall lifted him up. 'If you'll join us, Miss Pearson.'

'Of course, Professor.'

As Emma expected, they headed for the Hospital Wing, and as soon as they were inside, Dumbledore asked Emma to wake Madam Pomfrey. Emma turned to the cots on the side of the wall as she walked, noticing one of them had someone in it, and that person was very obviously awake. They were lying down, covered with a blanket, but their heart was pumping far too fast. It was Harry, and he was pretending to be asleep. Emma did as she was told, however, and knocked on Madam Pomfrey's door, and directed her to Dumbledore.

'What happened?' whispered Madam Pomfrey, bending over Colin's body.

'Another attack.' said Dumbledore. 'Miss Pearson here, found him by the stairs.'

'There was a bunch of grapes next to him.' said McGonagall. 'We think he was trying to sneak down here to visit Potter.'

Emma blocked out the rest of their conversation, instead moving quietly to sit next to Harry's bed.

'Breath, Harry, or no one will believe you're asleep.' smirked Emma, whispering.

'What happened to Colin?' he asked, quietly.

'Petrified, I think.' replied Emma. 'Looks just like Mrs Norris did.'

'We've got to stop this.' whispered Harry, through gritted teeth. 'Start the potion tomorrow, as soon as you can.'


	16. Chapter 16 - Instincts

**Chapter 16 – Instincts**

Emma nodded to Harry. He was right, they needed to finish the potion as soon as possible. The timing of the attack couldn't have been any clearer. Someone in Slytherin was annoyed that they lost the Quidditch game and had taken it out on Colin. Emma was all for going to the Slytherin common room right now and draining every drop of blood from Draco's body, though she knew that that was her hunger talking. She wasn't due to be fed for another night and her hunger had been creeping up on her daily, but she was managing.

She was distracted then when McGonagall put her hand on her shoulder, to get her attention, and then beckoned her to the other side of the room. Dumbledore had already left, and Madam Pomfrey was returning to her office.

'You did the right thing, coming to me,' said McGonagall. 'however, you _were_ out of the Tower after hours.'

'Yes, Professor.' nodded Emma, forlornly.

'I might add that this is the second time,' she sighed, sternly. 'and I highly doubt that you found Mister Creevy on the one night you decided to break the rules. You're making a habit out of this, Miss Pearson.'

Emma didn't reply to that, trying to keep her face impassive and McGonagall pursed her lips.

'I will be taking fifty points from Gryffindor, Miss Pearson. I would also give you a detention, however, due to the circumstances, I will let you off this once.'

Emma nodded, putting her head into her hands. 'Hermione's going to kill me.'

Even though Emma didn't notice, McGonagall actually smiled at that.

'Don't let me catch you out after hours again. Now, get back to the Tower, and quickly.' she said, sternly. 'And no detours!'

'Yes, Professor.' said Emma, turning and running as fast as she could to the common room.

Emma tried to stay inside, she really did, but her restlessness was eating away at her nerves. It was beginning to make her whole body itch, and felt really uncomfortable. After less than an hour, she couldn't stand it any more, writing a cryptic note for Hermione to find in the morning and left again.

She went straight to the potions classroom and stole an old cauldron, levitating it in front of her and went to Myrtle's bathroom. She was in one of the U-bends again, so Emma opened one of the other cubicles, propped the cauldron over the toilet and conjured some of Hermione's favourite waterproof flames under it. She started making the potion and preparing some of the ingredients, but she only remembered the first few steps from the book, so she hoped Hermione woke up before she needed the rest.

Making the potion helped with her restlessness, as it required constant vigilance and concentration to begin with, but she could tell she was getting worse by the hour and started pacing. It seemed to be triggered by her increasing hunger.

When Hermione finally arrived, joined by Ron, Emma was pacing in front of the potion cubicle and visibly shaking. She hurriedly told the two of them what had happened to Colin, and what Harry had said. She even included losing the house points, but quickly said she had to go, and ran from the room, her skin crawling. It was maddening.

She immediately found Draco, sitting in the Great Hall, still eating breakfast. He was alone, if you ignored his bodyguards, which Emma did. They were brainless, and couldn't see the way every other Slytherin treated him.

Emma had heard the day before that Draco had had one of the Quidditch balls, the little flying one that he was meant to catch, just by his ear, yet he was too busy making snide comments at Harry to notice, allowing Harry to catch it instead.

It had lost Slytherin the game, and now Draco's reputation was worth less than a Knut. The Gryffindors had even come up with a chant to do with Raining Men, praising Draco for giving them the win.

Now, as Emma glared at him from outside the Hall, he was cowering, shaking and on the verge of crying. Emma soaked it up, relishing it. He was truly suffering now, and she was enjoying it.

As it helped her relax, she followed him around the castle, hidden of course, and continued to learn his movements, routines and behaviours. She would know him like she knew the school, so she would be ready for when the time came to stop him from hurting Muggle-borns, to stop him from hurting Hermione, to kill him.

As soon as she thought that last part, Emma woke up as if from a daze. She had followed him half way around the school and down to the dungeons where Draco was now cowering on the floor, flinching at shadows. Emma ran away before she did something she would regret.

One good thing did come from Emma's Draco hunting, though. It had calmed her restlessness down enough to tide her over for the day. After she'd returned and caught up with Harry's news about the Chamber having been opened before, the four of them spent nearly all day in the bathroom.

They finally managed to get the potion to a point where they could leave it overnight unattended, and returned to the common room. The boys went to bed straight away, but Hermione and Emma tried to catch up on a missed days worth of homework.

Hermione didn't make it though, and she fell asleep on the sofa. Emma did what she normally did when that happened and made sure Hermione was lying down properly and had a cushion for her head. She then went upstairs to her trunk and took out her extended bottle of blood, and was more relieved than ever to smell it, and taste it. The last day had been dreadful. Downing the bottle, Emma collapsed into the sofa opposite Hermione in complete bliss.

She was woken from her daze a short while later by Hermione, fidgeting. She was still asleep, but her heart rate was going up and she was clearly not happy, obviously having another nightmare. Emma really wished she could help, to make the nightmare go away, and was about to get up, to try to hold her hand, like she'd done before, but Hermione had already started to calm down, even began smiling.

Emma jumped then when Hermione woke with a start, and took in her surroundings, then looked at Emma.

'That was strange.' she whispered, groggily. 'I was remembering Quirrel, and he was using the curse on you, but then everything suddenly changed, and I was sitting in the living room at home with mum and dad. That's never happened before.'

Hermione just looked confused, shaking her head a little, but Emma's eyes bulged. That had been the exact memory that she had thought of that she believed would make Hermione happier.

' _Just a coincidence._ ' thought Emma, to herself, but didn't believe it for a second.

She thought of another good memory, and focused on it while looking at Hermione.

'It did it again.' flinched Hermione, confused. 'This time it was my birthday, in the Great Hall.'

Hermione immediately looked to Emma, as if a puzzle piece had fallen into place.

'Was that you?' she asked.

'I... I think so,' stammered Emma, nodding slowly, before quickly explaining. 'but it wasn't on purpose, except that last one. I just wanted to stop your nightmare. I didn't know I could do that, I mean, I helped once before at your house, but I held your hand that time...'

Emma lowered her head, ashamed.

'So, it's another ability.' said Hermione, in a daze. 'You can make people see thoughts or memories. Is that what your mother did to you?'

Before Emma could reply, Hermione's face went dark.

'Malfoy!' she said, accusingly. 'This whole time, with Malfoy, it's been you! You're the one making him terrified of his own shadow!'

'I am?' asked Emma, happier than was appropriate.

Even now, being glared at by Hermione, she couldn't bring herself to feel guilty.

'Hermione, I promise I didn't know I was doing it. I mean it, though I'm not sorry. If he's the heir, he deserves it.'

'And if he's not?' replied Hermione.

'Then we're making the Polyjuice Potion for nothing?' shrugged Emma, coldly.

'All right, that's it!' snapped Hermione. 'Tomorrow we're going to see Madam Pomfrey. Something is wrong with you. You've not been yourself for weeks now, and you're going to be earning back one-hundred house points.'

'A hundred?' groaned Emma. 'That'll take me weeks!'

'And if you don't stop it with Malfoy, I'll make it two-hundred!'

Emma collapsed back into her sofa and put her head in her hands, sulking. Hermione had never been this bossy to her before, and she'd hit a nerve. Emma really hadn't been feeling herself lately, particularly today. She'd even nearly considered killing Draco. After a few seconds, she relented, nodding her head.

'You know I'm only doing this because I don't want you to be executed, right? You're my best friend.' said Hermione. 'And, thank you for trying to help with my nightmare.'

She came and sat down beside Emma and gave her a hug. It was enough to get Emma to start crying again. She really was a mess.

The next day, after all her lessons, where Hermione had made her stick her hand up in class every time a question was asked, Emma had only managed to earn back five points, and it was already unbearable. She was in a foul mood, and she couldn't even take it out on Draco. The only good thing to come out of it was that at least Hermione wasn't taking pleasure from Emma's suffering, like she had the last time she made Emma do this.

To distract herself from her embarrassment in class, she put her mind to the Polyjuice potion. They would all check on it between lessons, and during breaks, and as the one that was arguably better at potions than the others, Emma was usually the one mixing it. It worked out quite nicely. The boys would prepare the ingredients, under the watchful eye of Hermione, who would make sure there was enough, that they were prepared correctly, and pass on the instructions to Emma for the next steps. It was very enjoyable and the intricacies of such a complicated recipe were really interesting. She couldn't wait to start making more potions this difficult in class.

After they had made sure the potion was in a state they could leave it overnight again, Emma and Hermione left Harry and Ron to their own devices and went to the Hospital Wing. Emma wasn't sure what Madam Pomfrey could say that would help, but she seemed to be one of the most knowledgeable about vampires, so she understood why Hermione wanted to consult her.

'Miss Granger, Miss Pearson?' asked Madam Pomfrey, looking at the two of them as they entered the hospital. 'What can I do for you?'

'We were wondering if we could talk, about Emma.' said Hermione, quietly.

'Yes, of course.' replied Pomfrey, leading them to the far end of the hospital away from the other patients. 'What did you want to discuss?'

Hermione started explaining all of the problems Emma had been having since the end of last year, such as the instantaneous mood swings, the overwhelming anger, the agitation and restlessness and also the almost unconscious following of other students. She even mentioned something which Emma hadn't really noticed herself; the slowly decaying sense of empathy.

Emma supposed she should have noticed, all things considered. The first day back she had slapped Ron and felt terrible about it, however, just a few days ago, she had hit him again, on the head, and hadn't even thought twice about it.

When Hermione finished, adding the bit about sending thoughts to other people, she finished up, blushing quite a lot at the thought she just had. 'You don't think it's... puberty, do you?'

Emma looked at Hermione, suddenly very embarrassed, blushing too. 'No, it is not!' said Emma, emphatically.

'No, no.' said Madam Pomfrey, chuckling at the two of them, before getting more serious. 'No, it's not puberty, however, I'm sure that that won't help matters over the next few years.'

'So what do you think it is?' asked Hermione.

'I had warned the headmaster that this might happen.' she said, concerned. 'It is because of your diet. As we have discussed, vampires are meant to feed on human blood. Animal blood certainly helps keep you alive, and stops you from being hungry, but it's simply not enough.'

She sighed, sitting down on one of the cots next to the girls.

'You're right about the agitation and the following. It's hunting behaviour. For vampires, hunting is as much a part of feeding as the blood is, and since animal blood is so weak, your instincts are trying to get their fill.'

'But she didn't have this problem last year.' said Hermione, confused.

'No, and I expect that is because she was feeding so often that it never became an issue.'

'And what about her emotions, and empathy?'

'Well, just as a vampire's senses are heightened, such as eyesight and hearing, so too are their emotions. Now, maybe the slow process of changing from human to vampire allowed you to acclimatise to them over time, but you mentioned your mother showed you her thoughts and feelings?'

'Yes.' nodded Emma.

'I'm not sure what this ability you have is, perhaps it is somewhat similar to Legilimency, however, that is unimportant. I suspect that by letting you feel her emotions, your mother may have inadvertently triggered your own to heighten faster than you have been used to previously. If that is the case, then I'm afraid all that you can do is get used to them.'

'So what can we do?' asked Hermione, who was finding all of this information very illuminating, even if it was worrying.

'As I told Professor Dumbledore, I thought this might happen.' said Madam Pomfrey, sighing. 'There is only one solution, and that is to change your diet to human blood.'

' _What?_ ' exclaimed Emma, horrified.

'It probably won't help with your emotions, but it will severely lessen your hunting instincts and general agitation.'

'No.' said Emma flatly, standing up and backing away. 'No, I will not drink human blood. Where would you even get it? From who? Nobody would give blood willingly to a vampire! And what if I get addicted? What if I become feral? No, I won't do it!'

Emma immediately turned and ran out of the hospital, her emotions running wild again.


	17. Chapter 17 - Outed

**Chapter 17 – Outed**

Emma didn't know where she was going until she found herself on the seventh floor, heading to her usual sitting spot just under Barnabas' tapestry. She spent so much time there that it was beginning to feel somewhat like a refuge, though when she heard Hermione approach a little while later, she regretted her choice.

Hermione quietly came to sit beside Emma, and at first, neither of them said anything.

'I'm sorry I ran out like that.' sniffed Emma.

'It's alright.' said Hermione. 'I understand, but you have to admit, Madam Pomfrey has a point.'

'Hermione, please...' sighed Emma. 'Don't.'

Hermione nodded and went quiet again.

'I just can't do it. I won't. Animal blood is fine, and who's to say human blood will even help me? I'm not like other vampires and I don't want to become feral.'

'Look, Emma, I think you already are, slowly,' replied Hermione, sternly. 'by denying what you are. I trust you though. Just know that I'm worried, okay?'

'I know, me too.' said Emma, giving Hermione a hug.

'You'll tell me if it starts getting worse?'

'Promise.' said Emma.

'Good.'

The following week, Emma found it much easier to cope with than before. Having recently fed, her hunger was taken care of, and her need to hunt was satiated. She was still struggling with her anger toward Draco, but now that she was aware that she could cause him to have nightmarish visions, and knew how her ability worked, she was able to stop herself from doing it, most of the time. It actually helped that Hermione was still making her stick her hand up in class to answer questions, so she was always too embarrassed to look at anyone else, even Draco.

The news of the attack on Colin Creevy spread much quicker and had a more lasting effect than the one on Mrs Norris did. This time a human had been attacked, and Colin was as good as dead in the Hospital Wing. Everyone was scared, particularly the first-years who had started moving around the school in groups, terrified they would be attacked if they were alone.

Emma noticed that Ginny Weasley was finding the whole business more upsetting than most, and she overheard Percy saying that Ginny would sit next to Colin in Charms, but it seemed to be more than that. She had also taken Mrs Norris' attack badly, and even though she liked cats as much as Emma did, it still felt disproportionate to Emma. Maybe Hermione was right after all, maybe Emma was losing her empathy.

During the second week of December, Emma started to struggle again. The closer she got to her feeding day, the more restless she became, and the more detached. Sticking her hand up in class was less embarrassing, and more annoying. Staring at Draco and giving him terrible visions was becoming impossible to avoid, and most of all, the hunting, she really couldn't avoid that. Her skin would begin to crawl, to feel as if it was being eaten away by ants or other tiny insects, and the only relief was to follow someone, and that usually meant Draco.

Hermione watched Emma go through this phase with distress. It was just like the last time, only Emma was coping a little better than before. At least now they knew why she was doing what she was doing. It didn't make it any easier to watch though.

McGonagall came round the common room one evening to get the names of those who would be staying for Christmas. Harry signed up at once, though Hermione, Emma and Ron were initially reluctant. Ron wanted to go home with his family, and so did Hermione. Emma wanted to go to the Granger's again, but they were planning on going skiing abroad, and Emma didn't have a passport, as far as she was aware, so she would likely have to spend some time at the orphanage again. In the end, their decision to stay was made when they found out that Draco would be staying over Christmas as well, which struck them as very suspicious.

Again, the four of them put all their effort into the Polyjuice Potion. It was roughly half-way done, and it was finally time to put the powdered Bicorn horn and the shredded Boomslang skin into the potion, though it was Hermione that did it this time.

Emma was sat in the corner of the bathroom, trying incredibly hard just to sit still. There was no way she would be able to help with the potion in her current state. Hermione kept glancing over to see if she was alright, but she was worried more than ever.

'Ow.' said Ron, quickly, as he was chopping up some ingredients.

Emma smelt it at once, and she couldn't stop herself. She immediately moved from her sitting position into a crouch and ran at Ron. He'd cut himself, just a little on the finger, but now he was in far more trouble.

He looked up in time to see Emma start running toward him, her face passive, but the green in her eyes were almost glowing, the pupils getting ever so slightly thinner and taller, like that of a cat, and all her fingernails had grown into menacing claws.

' _Petrificus Totalus!_ ' incanted Hermione, before Emma had managed to close the distance between her and Ron.

Emma heard the incantation, though she ignored it, too fixated on Ron to care, it was irrelevant, but she quickly felt the spell hit her in the side. Clearly Hermione had made the spell as powerful as she was able, yet it barely slowed Emma down. It was the full-body bind spell, and Emma was sure that if it had hit anyone else, they would be as unable to move as Colin or Mrs Norris were right now, but Emma being resistant to magic, still had full use of her limbs, though they felt sluggish, like she was moving through treacle.

The spell was enough to wake Emma up, to get her to think for herself again, and she turned to Hermione, who was glaring and still had her wand pointed at Emma's chest. She felt immeasurably guilty. She'd just let Hermione down in the worst way possible, and when she turned to Ron and Harry, it was so much worse. Ron was cowering in front of her, scrambling backwards to get away, while Harry, was looking horrified. They both knew what she was now, and she wouldn't even blame them if they decided to tell someone. She hung her head, before shaking it, to clear it out, and then ran from the room.

Yet again, Emma ran straight for Barnabas' tapestry. She knew she was running from her problems, but she really needed to calm down, and give Hermione time to treat Ron's cut so the bathroom didn't smell of blood any more. She also desperately wanted to know what was hidden behind the obvious secret door.

After about twenty minutes of sitting there, Emma decided to check her map. Hermione hadn't come to see if she was alright, though she understood why she wouldn't want to, even if it hurt to think that they might not be friends any more. Hermione, Harry and Ron were still in the bathroom, and Hermione was in the potion cubicle, certainly still making the potion. Yes, Emma thought, it's for the best, they will need to finish it and she couldn't let the boys do it as they would almost certainly make a mistake, especially Ron.

Frustrated, Emma put her thoughts back to the hidden doorway. She really wanted to know what was hidden there. She finally couldn't stand sitting any more and began to pace, first to her left, and then a few steps to the right, and then again to the left. Before she turned back, she heard a noise to her right.

Turning, to see what was making the noise, her face fell, everything forgotten. There, on the wall, appeared a tiny wooden square, and yet it was growing, quickly, until it became a door, almost twice Emma's height.

She immediately opened it and went inside, and for the second time in less than a minute, she was shocked. The room she found herself in was unfathomably huge. It was taller, wider and deeper than the Great Hall, and that was saying something. It was so vast that Emma couldn't even see the opposite end of the room.

The contents of the large hall were just as perplexing. There were piles of broken furniture, heaps of books and robes and stacks of jewellery. Emma gave a cursory glance at everything around her as she followed what seemed to be a winding path amongst the flotsam. She was sure that she could spend the rest of her life reading just the titles of every book she saw in this room, let alone their contents.

After nearly an hour, Emma finally made her way back to the door and sat just inside on one of the less-broken chairs and checked her map. Hermione, Harry and Ron were returning to Myrtle's bathroom, having had lunch, Emma supposed, but she was distracted by the room she was in.

On her map, she didn't have the space to draw a room of the size she was in, it was simply impossible. She knew there were extension charms, after all, Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey used one on her bottle of blood, but for anyone to apply one of this magnitude to create a room this large was astounding.

Emma simply drew on a small rectangle, as best she could in the space where the room would be and cast the _Homonculus Charm_. Pleased that her dot appeared on the map, she left the room. Curiously, however, as soon as the door closed, and then shrunk until it disappeared, so too did the entire room on her map, as if she hadn't drawn it to begin with.

Putting the curious room out of her mind, Emma slowly returned to Myrtle's bathroom, dragging her feet. She had to apologise, and deal with Harry and Ron knowing about her. She was sure that Hermione would have told the boys everything by now.

She knocked the door before entering, and instantly heard the other three go silent, and their heartbeats started racing, even Hermione's. She assumed they thought they were about to be caught, so she opened the door slightly and called inside.

'It's me, Emma.' she said.

She then heard Hermione sigh with relief, but also Ron getting up to move further back in the bathroom, away from her.

'I'm glad you're alright.' said Hermione, getting up to hug her. 'I was worried about you, but I couldn't leave, the potion's getting really complicated now. Can you help?'

Emma nodded, sure it was just a ruse to make her feel a little more comfortable, but it worked. The four of them then spent the rest of the evening sat in the bathroom, talking about Emma, and her vampirism. It seemed that Hermione hadn't told them much at all, obstinately sticking with her _not my secret_ philosophy. It helped though. Emma found it easier to talk about than she thought, and Harry in particular asked a lot of questions, clearly making an effort. Ron just kept silent, but after many reassurances from Hermione, at least he wasn't screaming and running from the room, so that was a start. Hermione had even managed to persuade them both not to tell anyone, and what the consequences would be if they did. Harry agreed right away, but Ron took some convincing.

Needless to say, Ron treated Emma icily over the next few days leading to her birthday, the week before Christmas, and Hermione, in private, used the close call to again suggest that Emma switch to drinking human blood, but Emma still refused.

She was pleased, however, to see, on the morning of her birthday, that Hermione hadn't given up on her. She came down the stairs and sat next to Emma, passing her a small yet thick book, unwrapped.

'Calming techniques?' asked Emma, smirking.

'That's not your present, I just thought since you got me a book and a present, I would do the same for you.' smiled Hermione, before she too started grinning. 'And you need all the help you can get.'

'Thank you.' said Emma, browsing through the book.

Hermione then took a small wrapped box from her bag and gave it to Emma, who quickly opened it. Inside were two small black ribbons, on one side they were connected with a metal ring, and on the other, a chain that could be fastened together. Emma recognised it at once, it was a choker. She smiled broadly and put it on, with the ring at the base of her throat, and the chain at the back, then looked to Hermione, who looked back appraisingly.

'It suits you, but not your school robes.' she giggled.

Emma shrugged and thanked Hermione, again, and they hugged. It not working with her robes didn't matter to Emma, she'd wear it anyway. The only other present she received was another book, this one entitled _A Witches Guide to Ravens_ , from Hagrid, which Nephthys delivered.

'I bet Hagrid's really proud of himself for that.' laughed Emma. 'Good girl, Nephy.'

Harry didn't get her anything, as he'd already gotten her Nephthys, and Ron didn't because he was still far from being on friendly terms.

The rest of her birthday went as normal, however, later that evening, while she was checking on the potion, the other three returned from dinner saying there was going to be a Duelling Club that night, and they were all going to go. Immediately interested, Emma decided she would join them.

When they entered the Great Hall at eight o'clock that evening, they saw that the long dining tables had gone, and instead, there was a golden stage along one of the walls, lit by many hundreds of candles. Almost everyone from the school had turned up, all looking eager to get started.

'I wonder who'll be teaching us?' said Hermione, curious. 'Someone told me Flitwick was a duelling champion when he was young, maybe it'll be him.'

'As long as it's not -' began Harry, before he started groaning.

As if on queue, Lockhart strode onto the stage, accompanied by Professor Snape. Lockhart waved his hand for silence and started calling out.

'Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!'

Now Emma groaned. She was sure they wouldn't cover anything she didn't already know, especially not if Lockhart was in charge. She began ignoring most of what the fool was saying, instead looking around the room.

'Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape,' said Lockhart, flashing one of his ridiculous smiles. 'He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin.'

He kept waffling on, but Emma now looked to Snape, who had the face of someone who was both incredibly annoyed, and also very happy. Emma expected that he'd chosen to be the _assistant_ simply so he could humiliate Lockhart.

'Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?' whispered Ron to Harry, and Emma snorted.

Lockhart and Snape stood apart, gave each other a bow, though on Snape's part it was very strained, and then they pointed their wands at each other.

'As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position.' said Lockhart. 'On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course.'

'I wouldn't bet on that.' murmured Harry, based on Snape's expression.

'One – two – three -'

Both of them brandished their wands and incanted a spell, though Snape was clearly the faster of the two. He cast the disarming charm, _Expelliarmus_ , and when the scarlet spell hit Lockhart, he was blasted backwards off his feet and smashed into the wall. A lot of the Slytherin's laughed, and even a number from other houses. A few students showed concern for the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, and most of them were girls. Emma still didn't understand that look on their face.

'Well, there you have it!' said Lockhart, climbing back onto the platform, shakily. 'That was a Disarming Charm,'

' _Yes, I knew that._ ' thought Emma, irritably.

'As you see,' he continued. 'I've lost my wand – ah, thank you, Miss Brown. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do...'

Emma blocked him out again, going back to looking over the crowd. The man really was so full of himself.

Eventually Snape came up to Emma, apparently putting people into pairs, and he'd made it his mission to split up Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron, and decided to pair them all up with Slytherin's, except Ron, who ended up with Seamus.

Hermione was paired with a girl that looked an awful lot like Crabbe or Goyle, large, brutish and quite aggressive. Harry, of course, got paired with Draco, for which Emma was thankful. If she'd been paired with him, she wouldn't have been able to stop herself from hurting him, badly, and instead, she got paired with a tall, bulky, fifth year Slytherin she'd never noticed before.

Emma couldn't care about her partner though, she was more worried about Hermione's, and kept looking in their direction, which seemed to annoy her own opponent.

'Face your partners!' called Lockhart, now back on the platform, 'and bow.'

Emma didn't turn, or bow, and neither did her or Hermione's partner, as she saw from her peripheral vision. Hermione did, of course, and even Harry and Draco barely managed to dip their heads slightly.

'Wands at the ready!' shouted Lockhart, and again, Emma ignored him. 'When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent – _only_ to disarm them – we don't want any accidents. One … two … three...'

Emma watched as Hermione deftly cast her disarming charm at her opponent, who, now wandless and angry, charged at Hermione and grabbed her, putting her in a headlock. Emma was about to help when her own opponent threw a spell in her direction that clearly wasn't a disarming charm, it was green, not red. It was a simple matter to dodge the spell, having the reflexes she did, and she threw a spell in retaliation.

' _Silencio_.' she incanted.

Her opponent wasn't as adept at dodging as she was, and now he was unable to talk, which meant he couldn't cast any more spells, though not for lack of trying. The delay gave Emma time to hit Hermione's partner with a disarming charm of her own, and it had enough force to throw the girl into another pair, knocking them all over, leaving Hermione stood where she was, none the worse for wear.

'I said _disarm only_!' cried Lockhart, ineffectually, over the crowd. 'Stop! _Stop!_ '

Snape quickly took charge, incanting an extremely powerful dispelling charm that affected the entire room.

'Dear, dear.' said Lockhart, as he wandered through the aftermath of chaos. 'I think I'd better teach you how to _block_ unfriendly spells.'

He then tried to pick out a pair to demonstrate, probably because he was unable to do so himself, and he chose Neville and the posh Hufflepuff, Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape had other ideas. He made a snide comment about Neville's magic and then, obviously, chose Harry and Draco.

Both of them climbed onto the platform, and took their positions. After a brief discussion with their respective teacher, Lockhart started the duel.

' _Serpensortia!_ ' incanted Draco, loudly.

He was enjoying being in the limelight again, hoping to humiliate Harry to gain some of his favour back, but nobody expected things to go the way they did.

Snape, who enjoyed watching Harry stare motionlessly at the snake that had appeared from Draco's wand, lazily stepped forward.

'Don't move, Potter, I'll get rid of it.'

'Allow me!' shouted Lockhart, who brandished his wand, and cast a spell which threw the snake up into the air. It accomplished nothing other than anger the snake, which turned to Justin in the audience, and raised itself as if to attack.

Harry, strangely, stepped toward the snake and hissed at it. It wasn't the kind of hiss a snake normally made, nor the one Emma occasionally did when she was angry or scared, it was unique. It appeared to Emma as if Harry was talking to the snake, and when the snake turned away from Justin and curled back onto the ground, she was sure of it. Others, however, jumped to a far different conclusion.

'What do you think you're playing at?' shouted Justin, terrified, before running from the Hall.

Within seconds the entire room was buzzing with hissing again, this time whispers, and Emma, Hermione and Ron grabbed Harry and fled.


	18. Chapter 18 - Polyjuice

**Chapter 18 – Polyjuice**

Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron ran up to the empty Gryffindor common room, with almost every other student along the way looking at Harry like he was diseased. When they got inside, Ron pushed Harry into an armchair.

'You're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?'

'I'm a what?' asked Harry, confused.

'A _Parselmouth!_ ' said Ron. 'You can talk to snakes!'

'I know,' replied Harry. 'I mean, that's only the second time I've ever done it. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once – long story – but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to. That was before I knew I was a wizard...'

'A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?' repeated Ron, cautiously.

'So?' said Harry. 'I bet loads of people here can do it.'

'Oh no they can't.' said Ron, emphatically. 'It's not a very common gift. Harry, this is bad.'

'What's bad?' asked Harry, anger entering his voice. 'What's wrong with everyone? Listen, if I hadn't told that snake not to attack Justin-'

'Oh, that's what you said to it?'

'Really, Ron?' said Emma, exasperated, making Ron flinch. 'You couldn't tell by how the snake backed off?'

'What d'you mean? You were there … you heard me.' stammered Harry.

'I heard you speaking Parseltongue,' said Ron, glaring at Emma. 'snake language. You could have been saying anything. No wonder Justin panicked, you sounded like you were egging the snake on or something. It was creepy, you know.'

'What do you mean, egging it on? Was I the only one actually paying attention?' sighed Emma. 'Harry hissed at the snake, it backed off. Of course he was telling it to stop.'

Harry gaped at them.

'I hissed? A different language? But – I didn't realise – how can I speak a language without knowing I can speak it?'

Ron shook his head, and he and Hermione were looking gravely at Harry. Emma too was having a little trouble keeping her calm.

'D'you want to tell me what's wrong with stopping a dirty great snake biting Justin's head off?' snapped Harry. 'What does it matter _how_ I did it as long as Justin doesn't have to join the Headless Hunt?'

'It matters,' said Hermione, quietly, and deadly serious. 'because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin house is a serpent.'

'And you know what that means.' added Emma. 'If people were beginning to think you were the heir of Slytherin before, now they're sure of it.'

'But I'm not...' said Harry, panicked.

'You'll find that hard to prove.' said Hermione, frowning. 'He lived about a thousand years ago. For all we know, you could be.'

Things didn't improve the following day. Harry, who had been particularly affected by the news that people thought he had told the snake to attack Justin, was fretting about it in the common room. They were only there because Herbology had been cancelled due to a sudden snowstorm, and that had upset Harry's plans to talk to Justin.

'For heaven's sake, Harry.' said Hermione, exasperated as she was losing to Ron at wizard chess. 'Go and _find_ Justin if it's so important to you.'

Sighing, and nodding, he did just that. He never came back though, and so, when it was time for Transfiguration, Emma, Hermione and Ron made their way down to their lesson. They hadn't even gotten to their classroom before they heard the panicked chattering of some of the other students. Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been attacked, petrified like Mrs Norris and Colin, and what's more, Harry was found right next to them.

Of course, Emma, Hermione and Ron protested that Harry had nothing to do with it, but it was really beginning to look like someone was trying to set Harry up. What better way to get away with murder, make it look like someone else was doing it. Emma immediately, again, thought of Draco. He had been the one to summon the snake at the Duelling Club, maybe he knew, though Emma couldn't imagine how, that Harry could talk to snakes, and used it against him. That or he was simply exploiting the knowledge now that it was public. Either way, everything suddenly got worse.

That evening, almost everyone who had chosen to stay at Hogwarts changed their minds and decided to leave. Now, besides the four of them, and Draco and his goons, there were incredibly few people staying.

'What a jolly holiday it's going to be.' remarked Ron, once he'd found out.

Fred and George were about the only two people who actually found Harry's newfound fame hilarious. They would walk ahead of him in the corridors, parting the crowds by shouting, 'Make way for the heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through...'

Again, Emma noticed that Ginny was behaving strangely. She was taking the twin's humour very personally. Emma tried to understand, and given that it wasn't much of a secret to anyone that Ginny thought the world of Harry, except maybe Harry himself, it made some sense, but Emma still thought that she was overreacting, much like Percy, who yelled at the twins almost constantly.

Emma did begin to agree somewhat, however, when George began to try to ward Harry off with garlic. Of course, Harry wasn't a vampire, which was the point of the joke, but Emma was, and it was incredibly painful. She even hissed at George, completely involuntarily, when he'd done it the first time, making Hermione and Harry, and most of all Ron, look at her warily.

'See, Emma's playing along.' chuckled George, before he wandered off, back to his class.

Besides the garlic, the four of them found Fred and George's antics quite funny. It was nice to know someone else thought the idea of Harry being Slytherin's heir was ridiculous. Draco, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. He found the twin's teasing aggravating, more so than normal, and that was especially curious because those two were the ones who thought up the Quidditch chant that made Draco even less popular.

'It's because he's _bursting_ to say it's really him.' said Ron, knowingly. 'You know how he hates anyone beating him at anything, and you're getting all the credit for his dirty work.'

'Not for long.' said Hermione, smirking. 'The Polyjuice Potion's nearly ready. We'll be getting the truth out of him any day now.'

Hermione was right. The potion was coming along very nicely, and it was nearly done. On Christmas morning, they were sure they could finish it, though not before exchanging some gifts with each other. Emma, to mix things up a little, had gotten Hermione something unexpected; a Revealer. It looked like a red muggle eraser, however, it did the opposite. It could make hidden or concealed writing visible again. Emma had heard Hermione say that they could come in very useful, and Emma agreed. In return, Hermione had gotten her a tiny dark blue gemstone pendant. It was really very pretty, with a swirl of Quartz running through it. It was on the end of a very short chain and a clip.

'It's for your choker.' smiled Hermione, taking it and clipping it to the ring at the base of Emma's throat. 'There, much better.'

They thanked each other and hugged before opening their other presents. Richard and Jane had gotten her a very small bracelet wrist-watch with a tiny round face and a thin, dark metal strap, Harry had gotten Emma a lot of treats for Nephthys, and speaking of Nephy, Hagrid got her to deliver Emma's last present, a hand-carved, wooden whistle. It had a couple of holes on the side, like a flute, so that it could make different pitch sounds, and giving it a blow, it sounded like a high-pitched bird call. It would probably take some practice, but she could use it to call Nephy from long distances. Grinning, Emma put the bird-whistle in her bag.

Those were the only four presents she received, but she was far from upset. She appreciated them all, particularly Hermione's, and she hadn't been expecting anything from Ron, not after the way he'd been treating her recently.

She had gotten him something, albeit something simple; sweets. She'd gotten Harry a book on broom care, and for Hagrid, she'd sneaked into his hut the night before and put a few charms on his favourite mole-skin overcoat, the main one being a water-repelling charm. Hagrid spent nearly all of his time outdoors as the Grounds-keeper, and given how often it rained and snowed, she thought it might be useful. Once she was finished, she'd left him a note saying what she'd done.

After dealing with their presents, Emma and Hermione went down to Myrtle's bathroom to finish the potion by putting the lacewings in. The boys were still asleep, so they were sure they had time. It took nearly an hour, but the potion looked exactly like the book said it should, and the two of them were really pleased with themselves.

'Now all we need are the bits of whoever you're turning into.' said Emma.

'Well, I've got this hair from the Slytherin girl from the Duelling Club, Millicent Bulstrode I think her name was.'

'So the boys just need something of Crabbe and Goyle's.' said Emma, thinking. 'What do you have in mind?'

Hermione smirked, and Emma was reminded, curiously, of herself. 'Do you think you could brew a sleeping draught while we're at breakfast?'

Emma started giggling. Hermione was starting to get quite cunning and Emma loved it.

'Definitely!' she said.

They bottled up the Polyjuice potion and cleaned out the cauldron, then Emma started work on the sleeping draught while Hermione went up to the common room to tell the boys it was ready.

After Christmas dinner, which Emma avoided like before, much to Hermione's disappointment, the four of them were sitting in Myrtle's bathroom again. Harry and Ron had subdued Crabbe and Goyle with two cupcakes laced with Emma's sleeping potion and they'd gotten some hairs, and bigger shoes. Emma and Hermione had also gotten them larger robes, since Harry and Ron were very scrawny compared with the brutish Slytherins. Harry was also quite a lot shorter than Goyle, in fact, Emma noticed that he was a tiny bit shorter than she was, and it surprised her. She'd always been the shortest, and she wasn't sure when that had changed. At least it proved that Hermione was right, Emma really was growing, so she wouldn't be a thirteen year old forever.

'Once we've drunk the potion, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves.' said Hermione, nervously.

'Now what?' whispered Ron.

'We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs.'

'Three?' asked Harry, confused. 'Which one of us isn't going?'

'Me.' said Emma, frowning. 'Polyjuice only allows for human to human transformation and I'm not human.'

'Oh.' was all Harry could reply with.

Hermione poured the potion into three cups, and then shakily dropped Millicent's hair into her own cup. The dark-mud coloured potion sizzled and frothed, and quickly turned into an off-yellow colour. It looked awful.

'Eurgh – essence of Millicent Bulstrode.' said Ron, who looked like he was about to be sick. 'Bet it tastes disgusting.'

'Add yours, then.' glared Hermione.

Harry and Ron put Goyle's and Crabbe's hair into theirs and they turned a khaki-green snot colour and murky brown respectively.

'Hang on,' said Harry, when Hermione and Ron reached for their glasses. 'We'd better not all drink them out here. Once we turn into Crabbe and Goyle, we'll need to change clothes. You too, Hermione, Millicent Bulstrode's no pixie.'

They all agreed and took separate cubicles, leaving Emma alone by the sinks. After calling out that they were all ready, Harry counted them down.

Whatever was happening to the three of them, it did not sound pleasant in the slightest. She could hear Harry double over, leaning on the toilet seat to stop himself falling over, which didn't work, and then there was a strange bubbling sound that Emma didn't even want to know what it was. It sounded like something melting.

After what must have been over a minute, she heard Harry and Ron get changed, but Hermione had gone quiet, though her heartbeat was racing as fast as it had been during the change.

'Are you two OK?' asked a low-rasp that Emma recognised as Goyle, so it must be Harry.

'Yeah.' grunted Crabbe from another cubicle.

Emma had to calm herself then when both Crabbe and Goyle came out of the cubicles. The likenesses were absolutely perfect.

'This is unbelievable.' said Ron, looking in the mirror.

'We'd better get going.' said Harry, urgently.

Ron turned to Hermione's cubicle and banged on it. 'C'mon, we need to go...'

'I – I don't think I'm going to come after all.' replied a strangely high-pitched voice. 'You go on without me.'

That didn't sound like Millicent, but neither did it sound quite like Hermione.

'Hermione, we know Millicent Bulstrode's ugly, no one's going to know it's you.'

'No – really – I don't think I'll come. You two hurry up, you're wasting time.'

'We'll meet you back here, all right?' said Harry turning to Emma. 'So, where are we going?'

'The Slytherin common room is down in the dungeons...' explained Emma, quickly, giving them enough details that they'd recognise. It wasn't too far from the potions classroom. 'The password is _pure-blood_.'

' _How_ do you know that?' asked Ron, accusingly.

'We don't have time.' said Harry, urgently, before dragging Ron from the room.

'All right, Hermione.' said Emma, quietly, soothingly. 'The boys are gone now, what's wrong.'

She didn't get a reply, except, there was a strange swishing sound, like it was involuntary.

'Is that... a tail?' asked Emma, confused.

She then heard a quiet sob, followed by the door being unlocked. Out stepped Hermione, tentatively. She had her robes up over her nose, like Emma used to do when there was garlic around, and she was crying.

'What's wrong?' asked Emma, stepping forward, to look Hermione in the eyes.

In answer, Hermione dropped the robes from her nose, and ducked her head slightly. Her face was covered in black fur, her eyes had gone yellow, and there were long pointed ears sticking up out of her hair.

'It was a c-cat hair!' she howled. 'M-Millicent Bulstrode m-must have a cat! And you know w-why that's bad!'

Myrtle heard the commotion, coming to investigate, and then started making fun of Hermione.

'You'll be teased something _dreadful_.' she said, happily.

'Oh shut up, you hypocrite.' yelled Emma, making Myrtle cry and fly off again, before her face brightened. 'I think it looks very pretty.'

Hermione looked up, confused, and a little hopeful. 'You do?'

'You know I like cats.' grinned Emma, and Hermione hit her on the arm half-heartedly. 'Come on, let's get you to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey will fix you up, no problem.'

Emma, with the help of her unfinished map, managed to sneak Hermione to the Hospital Wing without anyone noticing, all the while trying to keep Hermione calm. Also, the swishing of her tail was oddly distracting. When they arrived they told Madam Pomfrey that they'd had an accident while trying to make a potion, which was somewhat truthful, though they didn't say which one. They were sure the matron wasn't fooled, though she didn't inquire any further.

Emma was allowed to stay while the matron flit back and forth with various potions, and Madam Pomfrey even let the boys stay when they finally arrived over an hour later, having been sent here by Myrtle.

' _What_ _happened_ _to you?_ ' said Ron, insensitively, disgusted.

While the matron's back was turned, Emma hit him again, and Hermione began to explain, but quickly reversed the topic, asking what had happened with Draco.

'It's not him.' said Harry, sulking, and Emma's eyes narrowed, unconvinced. 'He said his father knows a lot more about it, but won't tell him anything.'

'That's convenient.' growled Emma and Hermione turned to her, concerned.

'He thinks that if the attacks don't stop, Dumbledore will get sacked.' added Ron.

'He also said that last time the Chamber was opened, someone died,' continued Harry. 'and that it's only a matter of time before it happens again.'

Emma was getting angry again. She couldn't believe it wasn't Draco.

'Yeah,' said Ron, scowling. 'He said he hopes it's you next, Hermione.'

Emma's blood boiled over, and the red mist finally descended.

Hermione had less than a second to look at Emma and see the rage on her face, but couldn't grab hold of her hand or arm quick enough to stop her from getting up and running from the room at full-speed.

Hermione was scared. Emma's eyes had gone a bright-luminous green, actually glowing, and her pupils had gone more cat-like than her own currently were. She'd also grown her claws again, and Hermione had even noticed that her fangs had elongated.

The boys didn't see Emma's face before her incredibly hasty exit, so they weren't prepared for Hermione's reaction.

'Find Malfoy, before she kills him!' she hissed to the two of them, who just looked at her, bewildered. ' _Now!_ '


	19. Chapter 19 - Downward Spiral

**Chapter 19 – Downward Spiral**

Emma didn't hear what Hermione said as she left, she was too focused. She wasn't even really in control of her body, being more of a passenger along for the ride. She was murderously angry at Draco, and was all too willing to let herself kill him.

The last Emma knew, Draco was in the Slytherin common room, unknowingly talking to Harry and Ron, so she headed that way first, however, she quickly came across his scent on the second floor. It was fresh, and seemed to be heading away from the dungeons, toward the moving staircases. Instantly, the moment she realised that, her body changed directions, taking some hidden passageways to get a floor or two higher, to get to the stairs first, and cut him off.

She ran to one of the banisters on the fourth floor and perched precariously and unnoticeable on top of them. Her instincts told her to wait, to pounce on him, to drain him dry, like a true ambush predator, but she'd already fed recently, and hated the idea of drinking human blood, even in her rage-induced state. It also seemed particularly vile to think of having Draco's blood in her system. Instead, Emma changed her mind, quickly going through different possibilities. As long as he died, it didn't matter how, and the less she was involved, the better.

When Draco finally appeared, stepping onto one of the stairways that led up to the third floor, one below her, the plan came together. She imagined the snake he had conjured for Harry at the Duelling Club, a long and bulky black snake, and she made it much larger. Instead of being about as high as his ankle, she made it look as tall as his waist.

Having formed the picture in her mind, she projected it onto Draco, making the snake come at him from behind, hissing as it went, and it was quickly noticed. Draco, terrified he was about to be attacked, froze. Emma wondered if he thought it was the _Slytherin Monster_ and she started grinning wickedly at the sight. She slowed the snake down, making it get closer and closer, always looking Draco in the eyes, until he'd had enough, it was getting too close for comfort, and the coward he was, started backing away from it. He even fell backwards a pace as he tripped on a step once, but managed to catch himself on the banister. What he had failed to notice, however, was that the staircase had started moving. Being unable to tear his eyes or concentration away from the snake for even a split second, as it started raising it's head, ready to strike, he didn't realise he was getting perilously close to the top, and consequently, thin air.

When Draco was one step away from the top, Emma made the snake pause, ready to strike and nearly twice as tall as Draco now. She was savouring his terror before the end, a brilliant wicked smile on her face. At the last opportunity before the stairs stopped moving, she made it attack, and Draco jumped backwards, falling off the end, screaming, before he hit the ground two floors down, and went silent.

Emma couldn't hang around to make sure the deed was done, however, as now that it was all over, she became aware of other things. She heard Harry and Ron approach via the first floor, obviously having heard the scream, in fact, they were close enough that they'd probably witnessed him fall. Emma kept herself unnoticeable and leapt from her perch down to the first-floor, right passed Harry and Ron and took the secret passageway near the Hufflepuff common room up to the sixth floor, and then up to the seventh, to Barnabas' curious hidden room, and hid inside. She decided to call it the _Room of Hidden Things_.

Once she was inside, she checked her map. The room she was in was back on her map again, and had her named dot. It seemed that once the door was closed, the room didn't exist. What a curious room indeed. She then flipped over to the first-floor and saw two dots at the bottom of the stairs. One was Harry, and the other was Draco.

' _He's still alive?_ ' growled Emma, shaking with fury.

After a short time, two more dots came by, Ron and McGonagall, and all four of them left, going up the stairs to the Hospital Wing, where Draco was put onto one of the cots, not too far from Hermione.

That made Emma even more furious. That filth was so close that he could kill her in her sleep and nobody would be the wiser. He could also see that she was a cat, and make fun of her. Emma really hoped that Madam Pomfrey had put the curtains up around her.

Emma quickly began to realise that hiding out in the Room of Hidden Things was going to be more suspicious than anything. Clearly Hermione and the boys had noticed her run out in her rage, so instead she ran to the common room before the boys got there.

She had checked her map, and after depositing Draco in his cot, Harry and Ron went to Hermione's, and they were definitely discussing what had happened, but they must have been loud or something so Madam Pomfrey kicked the boys out, and they were heading back to the common room. She would need to get there first and look as innocent as possible.

She managed to get there a few minutes before them, and grabbed the book Hermione had bought her, the one on calming techniques. She had only glanced at it before, but she picked it up and opened it a short ways in, to make it look like she'd been reading all this time.

'Where have you been?' asked Harry, suspicious, when he'd gotten inside.

Ron looked positively terrified at the sight of Emma, and she didn't think she had ever seen Harry look so judgemental.

'Just reading the book Hermione bought me.' said Emma, feigning shame, before looking genuinely alarmed. 'Why, what's wrong? Is Hermione okay?'

Both Harry and Ron's eyes narrowed. They knew what a good liar she was, but she seemed so earnest.

'Hermione is fine.' snapped Ron. 'But Draco isn't, not after you tried to kill him!'

' _What?_ ' said Emma, letting her voice squeak a little.

'Draco _fell_ off the moving staircase,' said Harry, flatly, clearly insinuating that he knew Draco was pushed. 'and now he's in the Hospital Wing, multiple broken bones, but he'll be fine.'

'And you think I did it?' she asked, frowning. ' _Why?_ '

'You're a vampire and you're dangerous, and we all know you hate him.' said Ron through gritted teeth.

'Ron, for crying out loud, can you stop it with your prejudice. Just because I'm a vampire, doesn't mean I go around killing people.' she snapped back. 'Besides, you both hate him just as much as I do, probably more!'

'You tried to kill _me_!' shouted Ron.

'And that was an accident that I have apologised for many times. I really am very sorry I did that. You cut yourself and I was very hungry at the time. I swear, it won't happen again. And I'm not hungry now, I only fed two days ago.'

'Enough!' said Harry, exasperated. 'Hermione asked us to tell you she wants to talk to you.'

After that, the both of them went up to their dormitory and refused to speak to her for days.

Emma went to the Hospital Wing to talk to Hermione the following day, however, Draco was still inside. Apparently he'd suffered more than a few broken bones, and it was taking a little longer for Madam Pomfrey to heal him, so Emma didn't go in. She didn't trust herself not to try to kill him again. Instead, she spent the last few days of the holiday in the common room doing homework, playing with Nephthys, or reading, and finishing her map during the night.

After the third day, Draco was finally released, and Emma reluctantly went to see Hermione, truly ashamed. Hermione was deathly furious, and once Emma had sat down within arms reach, not saying anything and ducking her head, she suddenly felt like Ron on the first day.

Hermione had slapped her on the side of her face. She was sure a hand-print had appeared, but by the time Madam Pomfrey came over to see what the noise was, it had evidently healed already as the two of them pretended nothing happened.

'How _could_ you?' hissed Hermione, not wanting to attract the matron's attention again. 'And don't even think about lying to me like you did with the boys, I know it was you.'

'I lost my temper again.' she admitted, sounding very small.

'No, Emma. Hitting Ron, that was losing your temper.' she snapped. 'You tried to _kill_ Draco. You pushed him off the stairs!'

'I didn't push him.' said Emma, weakly.

'Don't get smart with me! However you did it, he could have died!' replied Hermione. 'It was hard enough getting Ron not to tell McGonagall it was you as it was. If you'd really done it, you'd have been executed by now! Do you really want to make me watch that?'

Emma just hung her head in shame. 'I'm sorry I upset you.'

Hermione sighed, exasperated. 'But you're not sorry you hurt Malfoy, are you?'

'No.' said Emma, shaking her head.

'You promised me you'd tell me if you started getting worse.' said Hermione, finally calming down.

'I know, and it hasn't.'

'The fact that you think that clearly shows it has.' sighed Hermione. 'You know, Malfoy's father came by yesterday. He's planning to get Professor Dumbledore sacked for what you did. Malfoy thinks it was the heir that tried to kill him, though his father was sure it wasn't, but he said he'd use it to sway the Board of Governors.'

Emma's eyes bulged, even more ashamed. No Dumbledore meant more attacks.

'Emma,' said Hermione after a short pause. 'you really have to start drinking human blood.'

'No!' said Emma, flatly.

Hermione glared, pausing again.

'I don't know what to do with you.' she said. 'Obviously making you stick your hand up in class isn't helping any more. You're not learning your lesson and you're getting worse every week. You've got to stop whatever it is between you and Malfoy, right now. He's really not the heir of Slytherin.'

Emma sulked, but Hermione seemed to have an idea.

'The more time you spend focused on Malfoy, the more time the real heir has to continue the attacks, and if Dumbledore really does get sacked, how long will it be before the heir comes for _me_?' she said, silkily.

Emma looked up, instantly alert, like everything else they'd just discussed was meaningless, and Hermione nodded to herself, suspicions confirmed.

'I promise I won't hurt Draco any more.' said Emma, sincerely.

'Really?' asked Hermione, tilting her head to the side, trying not to smile to herself. 'You're going to keep this one?'

Emma nodded, not realising Hermione had just played her at her own game.

'Good.' said Hermione, before she reached over to hug Emma. 'Now, Madam Pomfrey says I'm going to be in here for a while and term starts soon. Will you bring me all the homework we get, and lend me your notes?'

'Of course.' said Emma, glad the two of them were still friends.

Emma quickly realised over the following month, however, that their relationship was still very strained. Every time Emma went to visit, to pass on the homework and her notes, Hermione would question her constantly, always making sure Emma wasn't making Draco have visions, or following anyone, and she stopped taking Emma's word for it. She would always double check with Harry and Ron, and they were another story entirely.

After her attempt on Draco's life, Ron had completely refused to talk to Emma, and would often go so far as to leave any room she was in, except during class, where he would sit as far away from her as possible. Harry, being Ron's best friend, took his side, and though he did exchange words with Emma occasionally, it was usually meaningless small talk. If Emma ever went to visit Hermione while the boys were there, they would either glare at her until she left, or simply leave themselves. Hermione tried to smooth everything over, but restricted as she was to the Hospital Wing, it took a while.

About half way through January, just as things were starting to look up, it became so much worse. Emma had been working on her map, trying to cast the _Homonculus_ _Charm_ on the few remaining places that weren't mapped, when she saw something unusual on the lower floors. It was Ginny, out of the Tower, at nearly 3 o'clock in the morning. It appeared as if she'd just come inside from the Entrance Hall and was heading back to the common room.

Ever curious, Emma put aside what she was doing and went to investigate. By the time she caught up, Ginny was walking slowly up a staircase leading to the fourth floor and she looked very strange. Her hands were red, and there was a faint smell of blood, but most curious of all was that she had feathers all over her. Not many, but they were stuck to her robes, and she looked as if she hadn't even noticed.

Emma took a shortcut to get ahead of Ginny, all the while remaining unnoticeable, and then watched as she approached. Her eyes were glazed over, as if she were sleep-walking, but Emma had seen enough of the kids at the orphanage sleep-walk to know that Ginny wasn't doing that. Her face was vacant, as if nobody was in there at all.

Emma thought she would do more harm than good if she tried to wake Ginny now, so she simply committed to following her back to the dormitory. It felt good to do it, as she hadn't followed anyone in nearly three weeks. Once Ginny got to the portrait of the fat lady, she mechanically said the password, and climbed inside. Quickly, Emma sneaked in behind her, and watched. Ginny got half way to the stairs to the dormitory and suddenly woke up.

She looked at herself and started behaving hysterically. She ran into the bathroom and cleaned off her hands and the feathers, and then cried for a bit in the common room. A small part of Emma's mind realised that this scene should have been uncomfortable to watch, but it wasn't. Emma couldn't feel any sympathy at all, even if she tried.

The next day, Emma went to visit Hermione, and the boys were already there. They tensed at her arrival, but stayed where they were, and even listened when she started talking.

'Does Ginny normally sleep-walk?' asked Emma to Ron, confusing and annoying him.

'No.' he said, curtly.

Emma nodded to herself and explained what she saw. While she was talking, a puzzle piece fell into place. Harry had said before Christmas that something was killing Hagrid's Roosters, and Emma could have sworn the feathers on Ginny's robes looked like they would belong to a Rooster.

Given the way Ginny had been behaving, Emma stupidly blurted out a thought that had just occurred to her.

'What if the heir of Slytherin is controlling her?'

Ron, who had clearly been getting angrier during Emma's explanation, lost it when she asked that.

'How _dare_ you?' he shouted, getting up. 'I bet _you're_ the heir!'

He actually tried to hit Emma, but she leaned back, out of the way, effortlessly, and then Harry had to hold Ron back.

'Choose your next words _very_ carefully!' hissed Emma, glaring at him menacingly, her eyes cold.

Ron looked to Hermione, who was looking at Emma, concerned, before he stormed out, taking Harry with him.


	20. Chapter 20 - Deteriorating

**Chapter 20 – Deteriorating**

'Calm _down_!' snapped Hermione, bossily.

'But he called me the heir!' replied Emma, still fuming.

'And you just accused his sister of being responsible for _them_.' said Hermione, pointing to the cots of those who have been petrified. 'I'm sure you're both just as wrong as each other.'

'But you heard what I saw.'

'I heard what you _think_ you saw.' sighed Hermione, speaking quickly before Emma could interrupt. 'Maybe she was just sleep walking, and you jumped to conclusions. It wouldn't be the first time. You thought it was Malfoy, and now Ginny.'

Emma frowned back, but before she could say anything, Madam Pomfrey came by to say visiting was over.

As time passed at the school, things kept getting worse for Emma. Harry and Ron had finally decided that they wanted nothing more to do with her and avoided her at every opportunity. As per Hermione's instructions, during classes they would watch her like two hungry vultures, to make sure she didn't try to hurt Draco or anyone else. Annoyed, Emma just sat by herself and tried her best to write notes as detailed as possible so that Hermione would appreciate them. She was determined to keep her promise, however difficult it might be.

Emma had taken to spending all of her free time during the day, while the boys were awake anyway, in the library. They never went there unless they could help it, and if she hid herself in a corner, they'd never even know she was there.

She soon began to feel like a true vampire for once. Hiding out in dark corners, shunned by the humans, and she was very bitter about it. Some nights, Emma would go deep into the Room of Hidden Things and take some of the broken furniture and smash it to pieces, just to get her anger and restlessness out of her system. It's not like anyone was going to miss them.

On the first day of February, Hermione was due to be released from the Hospital Wing, fully recovered with no tail, fur or whiskers. Emma, against her better judgement, was sat in the far corner of the common room that evening, working on some homework with Nephthys for company, pretending she couldn't see Harry or Ron throw annoyed glances at her every now and then.

When Hermione finally arrived, the boys were quick to get her attention, and she looked over to Emma before joining them, looking apologetic. Annoyed, Emma did something she normally hated doing; eavesdrop.

Harry started explaining to Hermione about a diary he had found in Myrtle's bathroom that was fifty years old. Someone had thrown it away the same day Emma had told them about Ginny. It belonged to a student called T. M. Riddle, who, Ron added, had gotten an award for special services to the school.

'Oooh, it might have hidden powers.' said Hermione, enthusiastically.

'If it has, it's hiding them very well.' mumbled Ron. 'Maybe it's shy. I don't know why you don't chuck it, Harry.'

'I wish I knew why someone _did_ try to chuck it.' said Harry. 'I wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts, either.'

'Could've been anything.' replied Ron, who was quickly cut short by Harry.

'The Chamber of Secrets was opened fifty years ago, wasn't it?' he said. 'That's what Malfoy said.'

'Yeah...' replied Ron, gormlessly, sounding like Crabbe.

'And _this_ diary is fifty years old.' said Hermione, excited.

'So?' questioned Ron.

'Oh, Ron, wake up.' snapped Hermione, making Emma smirk.

Hermione then went into a long explanation saying that T. M. Riddle must have gotten his award for catching whoever opened the Chamber last time, and said the diary could tell them everything.

'That's a _brilliant_ theory, Hermione,' said Ron, sarcastically, making Emma want to hit him again. 'with just one tiny little flaw. _There's nothing written in the diary._ '

Hermione then did exactly as Emma would have done. She got out her wand and tried a revealing charm.

'It might be invisible ink!' she whispered. ' _Aparecium._ '

Nothing happened, apparently, so Hermione followed it up by getting the Revealer that Emma had gotten her for Christmas and used it on the first page of the diary. Again, it didn't accomplish anything, and the three of them quickly moved on to other topics, before Hermione went to get up.

'Where are you going?' asked Ron, rudely. 'You're not going to speak to _her_ are you?'

'Yes, Ron.' snapped Hermione. 'She's my best friend whether you like it or not.'

This pattern of Hermione splitting her time between Emma and the boys continued, and Emma could see that the rift in the group's friendship was getting to her. Hermione kept trying to smooth things over, to get Harry and Ron to be accepting of Emma, but they wouldn't budge, and if they didn't care, then neither did Emma. If they didn't want to speak to her, so be it.

By Valentines day, Hermione had begun spending more time with Harry and Ron than she did Emma, and that was scary. Emma was worried that she'd be completely without friends by the end of the month. She became sarcastic, snide and uncaring, and lied more than ever. She began giving Draco visions again, while Hermione wasn't around, but somehow she always found out.

It didn't help that during the day, a dozen dwarfs wearing golden wings and carrying harps had been barging into lessons and delivering Valentines. Lockhart had called them friendly, but they were anything but. On the way to Charms, one of them had caught up to Harry, who had started turning a hilarious shade of pink before the dwarf even started reciting, and tore Harry's bag as he tried to get away. Before Harry could clean his things up, Draco opened his mouth.

'What's going on here?' he drawled, as a crowd had formed, blocking the corridor.

Draco had been getting steadily bolder over the past month. Having survived an assassination attempt, and because Emma hadn't made him cower every day, he'd gotten some nerve back. He'd certainly gotten enough so that he felt he could taunt Harry by taking the diary and try to read it, though Harry lost his temper, already flustered from the Valentine, and used the disarming charm on Draco to get the diary back.

What was most interesting about the whole exchange was that Ginny was nearby, and she kept looking between the Diary in Draco's hands, and Harry, terrified. Draco assumed it was because the Valentine was from her, which it probably was, and made a snide comment about it, but Emma had other ideas. Ginny was looking at that diary with far too much recognition.

The following day, Emma heard from Hermione that Harry had managed to get the diary to reveal some information, by writing in it, and somehow, it wrote back. It had even showed Harry a memory of Riddle's, whose name they now knew was Tom, where he had caught the heir of Slytherin and the monster. The diary claimed that it was Hagrid, with some creature that looked like a big spider with lots of eyes.

They all knew Hagrid had been expelled, he'd said so himself, but they never knew why. The whole thing was nonsense though. Emma most of all knew how easy it was to give someone a false memory, and what a convenient story. She didn't believe it for a second. There was no way Hagrid was the heir of Slytherin and she made herself very clear on that point to Hermione and the boys.

'You should be ashamed of yourselves for even considering it!' she'd hissed at them one night, coldly.

Hagrid was one of the kindest adults Emma had ever met, and yes, he loved taking care of creatures that were dangerous, but killing Muggle-borns. Not a chance.

To prove her point, Emma even took to the library, frantically searching for a book on large and rare creatures, and with the help of Madam Pince, she found what she was looking for; Acromantulas. They were incredibly large spiders with eight eyes, giant pincers which could be used to make loud clicking sounds and also secrete a highly-toxic and fatal poison. They were incredibly intelligent as well, even capable of human speech. The species was classified as an XXXXX beast, which naturally meant it was very dangerous, but nothing Emma read about it sounded like it could petrify people.

To make matters even more complicated, if it could speak, and Harry could hear it, why couldn't Emma, Hermione or Ron. No, this whole thing stunk of misdirection, again, and so, during a circular argument Hermione and the boys were having on the subject, like they did almost every night, in the common room, Emma slammed the book down on the table between the three of them, open to the page on Acromantulas and then left. She'd attached a big note to it.

' _Cannot petrify! The diary is lying to you!_ '

A few days later, Emma, like all second years, became very distracted. McGonagall had announced to them that they would have to choose the elective subjects that they would be taking in the third year and beyond. Emma already knew that she was definitely dropping Transfiguration, so she would be choosing four of the five subjects available. The subjects on offer were _Care of Magical Creatures_ , which Emma knew she would be taking immediately, and _Study of Ancient Runes_ and _Arithmancy_ , both of which sounded very interesting.

The other two subjects were a difficult choice; one was _Muggle Studies_ , and the other _Divination_. Muggle Studies sounded incredibly boring, because she'd grown up a muggle, but it could be interesting to see how wizards perceive the muggle way of life. Divination on the other hand sounded very interesting, however, Professor McGonagall had described it as a very imprecise branch of magic, and said that it wasn't really worth while unless you already had the talent for foresight. As Emma was fairly sure she couldn't see the future, she decided to ignore Divination and choose Muggle Studies. She was the first Gryffindor to hand her choices in.

Hermione spent a lot longer deciding which three she would choose, and spent nearly all of her time outside of lessons with Emma, which was now less than an hour a day, going on about it. It was frustrating.

'I don't care, Hermione!' she snapped. 'Just drop Divination and Muggle Studies and be done with it!'

Hermione turned to Emma and looked hurt.

'I'm sorry.' sulked Emma. 'It's just you sit with me so rarely now, and all you want to talk about are your subjects.'

'What else are we going to talk about? The constant lying? Your _complete_ lack of empathy? How about the promises you keep breaking? Oh, I know, what about the fact that you still refuse to drink human blood, even though we both know it will help you.' replied Hermione, just as angry, before she grabbed her bag and stormed off.

It took a few days before the two of them had calmed down enough for them to be back on speaking terms, but it was nothing like before. Emma knew their friendship was over, it was only a matter of time, and she was angry, always angry.

Most of her fury was still being channelled into the broken furniture in the Room of Hidden Things, but as Hermione became even more distant, she redirected it; to Draco. He was the one that had started it all, ruining her life, alienating her friends, and she swore he'd pay for it.

During the second-to-last weekend of February, there was another Quidditch match, this one between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Draco had managed to maintain his position on the Slytherin team, despite being the worst player they'd ever had, only because _daddy_ would take back the brooms he'd bought the rest of the team, and they were too proud to lose them. Maybe Emma would be doing them a favour when she killed their terrible Seeker.

She knew she was being brazen and reckless, desperate even, when her plan to kill Draco involved causing him to have an _accident_ during the Quidditch match in full view of the entire school, but it was the best opportunity she had.

Quidditch was dangerous at the best of times though, so if she could time it right, nobody would suspect anything.

By eleven o'clock in the morning, nearly every student in the school was in the stands, and almost every teacher too. Dumbledore wasn't there, for which she was thankful. Making herself unnoticeable, she perched onto the very outer edge of the stands, and started watching the match. She still didn't understand the game, or what the Seeker's were doing. The snitch was over by the Ravenclaw hoops, and yet it seemed nobody had spotted it.

' _It's over there._ ' she whispered under her breath, frustrated, her heart racing.

The game went on a lot longer than she thought it would. Any game Harry was in would have been over long ago, yet there she was, still perched, still hidden, over an hour later and neither Seeker had noticed the snitch even once. It was currently circling just above the grass on the floor of the field.

Suddenly inspired, Emma pictured it in her mind, and then gave that image to Draco, so that he would look down and see it. It worked. He immediately went into a nose-dive, and the crowd gasped as they knew what was happening. The Ravenclaw Seeker was hot on Draco's tail, but with a slower broom, there was no way he'd catch up. Not normally anyway.

As Draco was nearing the ground, going as fast as he could to beat the Ravenclaw, Emma thought of every nasty thing she could think of, every little thing she hated about him, and made him feel it. Draco, suddenly incredibly terrified, lifted his hands up to his face, to shield his eyes, and lost control of his broom. Unable to pull up, he crashed into the ground, snapping his broom and rolled along the floor like a rag-doll.

In the chaos that followed, Emma jumped off the side of the stands, smirking, and ran back up to the castle, feeling better than ever.


	21. Chapter 21 - Alone

**Chapter 21 – Alone**

Emma ran to the library, hiding herself all the way until she got to her usual table, hidden in a dark corner. She put her bag down and went to find a couple of Charms books to start her homework. She knew that Hermione would be along any minute now and needed something to distract her, to take the smug, clearly-guilty smile off her face.

It was surprising how quick it worked. She'd just killed someone, and should be far more affected by it, but she was able to put it out of her mind like it was nothing more important than what the weather was the previous day.

As she was working, her face a mask of concentration, Hermione did come looking for her, and given her quick stride, Emma could tell she was angry.

'What have I done this time?' asked Emma, sarcastically, before Hermione had come round the corner.

When she saw Emma, Hermione was very surprised. Emma could see it in her peripheral vision, the confusion, the suspicion, the worry, all cross her face one after the other. She hadn't looked up from her work, worried that doing so might distract her, and give herself away.

Eventually, Hermione sat down opposite her and pulled out her own work.

'Nothing.' she sighed, looking tired. 'It's just, Malfoy crashed his broom at Quidditch.'

Emma looked up, impassive, before going back to work, pretending to be bored. 'Good.'

Hermione narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious. 'Professor Snape took him to the Hospital Wing, and Madam Pomfrey thinks he may have to be transferred to St. Mungo's, but he should make a full recovery.'

Emma snapped the quill she was holding in half as her anger got the better of her, but she at least managed to keep it off her face.

'I need another book.' she said, curtly, and rushed off to a far bookshelf, made herself unnoticeable and screamed out loud in fury.

Unbeknownst to her, Hermione quickly opened Emma's bag and took out her map. Even if she believed Emma may have tried to kill Draco again, she wasn't certain, and thought she should keep an eye on her whereabouts over the next few days, just in-case.

After that, the two of them didn't exchange another word until Hermione left, an hour later. Also being suspicious, Emma followed her out. She wanted to know what Hermione and the boys were saying about her behind her back, but as she began to fall in step a good distance behind Hermione, she stopped. She had realised that she was hunting Hermione, and she collapsed on the floor, crying.

Things had truly gotten very bad if she was at a point where she could see Hermione as prey. It conflicted with her entire being, and she became angry, yet again, at the one responsible for her suffering. He was still alive, barely, despite her best efforts, but that was going to change. This time she needed to take direct action. Once Draco was out of the way, everything would go back to the way they were, she was sure of it.

Emma waited in the Room of Hidden Things until after midnight, focusing her rage to a knife-edge, and then ran straight to the Hospital Wing, making sure she was hidden. Once she was outside the door, she stopped to listen. There were only two people breathing inside, Madam Pomfrey, in her office, asleep, and Draco, in one of the cots, still unconscious.

She opened the door noiselessly, and sneaked inside the dark room, straight toward Draco's cot. She looked at him, an innocently peaceful expression on his face, despite him being in such a terrible state, and yet her resolve didn't falter even an inch. She leaned over him, using her fury to extend her fingernails into claws and put them lightly against his throat, taking in every last detail of his face. After a few seconds, however, she was reminded of Hermione, one of the few people who knew about her claws, and she staggered backwards, frenzied. Emma couldn't kill him that way, it would be far too obvious.

Instead, Emma quickly went to the next cot and grabbed a pillow, firming it up and stepping back to Draco's cot. She was about to place it over his face, to smother him, when suddenly she felt a strange sensation in her back and the pillow dropped out of her hands.

She turned around, to see none other than Hermione, standing in the doorway of the Hospital Wing, with her wand pointed right at Emma, and an expression on her face that she couldn't even begin to describe.

'You're going to follow me, or I will make sure Dumbledore finds out _everything_ you've done.' said Hermione, in a calm tone that surprised the both of them.

Hermione was currently anything but calm, and she looked at Emma for no more than a second after her declaration, before turning and leaving the Hospital. Emma too turned, back to Draco, her fury still not abated, and picked up the pillow again, desperate to get him out of her life, yet all she could think about now was that intense look on Hermione's face.

Eventually, Emma's instincts for self preservation won out over her need to kill the filthy pure-blood, and she threw the pillow back onto the floor and left, following Hermione's scent.

She was led to a disused classroom, not too far from where the Mirror of Erised had been the year before. Hermione was stood in the middle of the room, looking down at a thick stack of parchment. Emma recognised it as her map, and when she closed the door, Hermione finally looked at her, holding it out for her to take it back.

She just stood there, glaring, her eyes glowing faintly and her claws still out. Hermione sighed and put the map down on a table between them.

'I tried to tell myself it wasn't you. I even told the boys. I said you wouldn't try it again, you promised, but of course, that was another lie.' she said, shaking her head. 'I give up.'

Emma waited for a short while, for Hermione to continue, but she didn't.

'Is that it?' she asked, raising her voice, shouting. 'After everything he's done? Ruining our friendship, calling you a Mudblood, trying to kill you, and I'm meant to just let him get away with that?'

'Ruining our friendship? You think Malfoy did that?' said Hermione, mirroring Emma's tone.

'Of course he did!' yelled Emma. 'And you stopped me from getting rid of him, and now he'll just keep making it worse! I can't believe you did that!'

Emma stepped forward, quickly and impulsively, brandishing her claws at Hermione, making her flinch backward. Emma was clearly incensed.

'You're going to kill me now?' asked Hermione, tilting her head to the side, scared of Emma for the first time in over a year.

'Kill _you?'_ asked Emma, furious. 'I've done nothing but _protect_ you!'

'Oh, yes, don't think I didn't notice that!' snapped Hermione, sarcastically. 'That every time you _lost control_ or got _angry_ it was when someone was hurtful to _me_. You think I like that you want to kill Draco because of me? You want me to _thank_ you for it? You've really lost it.'

'Of course I do. You should be happy! He ruined _everything_! Ever since he called you a Mudblood.'

'No, Emma. You did that all by yourself when you turned feral!'

Emma was becoming so enraged with Hermione for not understanding that she took one of the chairs next to her and turned, raising it above her head before smashing it onto the floor. She turned again to see Hermione had moved back a few steps and even had her wand pointed at her. She looked terrified.

'I would never hurt you!' said Emma, trying to calm herself down again, 'You're my best friend.'

'No, I'm not.' said Hermione, clearly struggling, on the verge of tears. 'You're so beyond irrational now, I don't even know who you are any more.'

'What?' gasped Emma, confused.

Emma felt an unusual stab of pain in her chest, and the anger drained from her system. Her claws shrunk back into nails and her eyes stopped glowing.

'If you can't help yourself from hurting people because they're mean to me.' she sniffed. 'Then I'm going to remove the temptation.'

There was a long pause before Hermione spoke again, as she wiped her eyes, and Emma was really getting worried now.

'Emma, you're not my friend any more and I don't want to talk to you ever again.'

She then rushed out of the room, tears streaming down her face, leaving Emma in a complete state of shock.

Emma stayed in the disused classroom, unable to move or process what had happened, for several hours. Even though she knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and feared it, but now that it had finally happened, it didn't feel real. She could only hope that it was an implanted memory, like the ones she could give.

When she eventually left the following afternoon, she pocketed her map and went to the common room, to put it back in her bag, but mainly to see Hermione again.

When she got inside, Harry and Ron gave her death-stares, making it very clear that she wasn't welcome. Hermione didn't even look up, and Emma could tell she was still crying, the side of her cheeks were blotchy, and she was sniffing.

Emma really wanted to mend the rift in their friendship, and took a pace toward the three of them, but the boys stood up, threateningly. It was enough to get the attention of a lot of the other Gryffindors who were now looking at Emma like she was a monster. Sulking, Emma went up to her room, got her bag and left again, going to the library.

Over the next two days, Emma tried everything she could think of to get Hermione to be friends with her again. Begging and pleading, leaving a note, sending a note with Nephthys, but the boys never left her side and would tear up and burn any note she left. Emma began to think they were behaving like Crabbe and Goyle did for Draco. It certainly didn't help that Hermione would never look in Emma's direction. In classes she had taken to sitting at the back with Harry and Ron, leaving Emma to sit at the front, alone.

The extent of the alienation from her friends was quickly catching up to her, and as it progressed, so did her coldness. That first Sunday afternoon she had had an almost complete breakdown, bawling her eyes out for hours in the Room of Hidden Things, but by the Tuesday evening, she was almost completely devoid of emotion. She could feel herself slipping away, losing her humanity.

That night, after everyone had gone to bed, Emma decided enough was enough. If they didn't want her any more, then they'll have their wish. She went to her dormitory, a few feet away from Hermione, and cast a feather-light charm on her trunk, picked it up, levitated Nephthys' cage ahead of her, and left.

She went up to the seventh floor and stowed her trunk away in Barnabas' curious room, and then made her way down to the Entrance Hall, and to Hagrid's hut. Nephthys woke up when they got outside, however, and was curious to know what they were doing, flying out of the cage and onto her shoulder.

'I'm sorry, Nephy, I'm not going to be able to look after you any more.' said Emma, with what little emotion she had left before it vanished. 'I'm taking you to Hagrid's. He'll take care of you.'

Nephthys pecked her on the side of the head and cawed in her ear, loudly, clearly unhappy.

'I know. I don't like it either.' replied Emma, a single tear forming in her left eye. 'But you'll get to be outside with Hagrid. If you stay with me, you'll be stuck indoors, and I won't be good company.'

Nephthys continued to protest all the way to Hagrid's, and when Emma deposited the cage in front of the giant's door, Nephthys wouldn't get down from Emma's shoulder.

'Nephy... please.' she choked, and after a few seconds, the bird flew onto one of the fences by Hagrid's hut and cawed at her, angrily.

'I'll miss you.' said Emma, the tear escaping and rolling down her cheek.

When Emma finally returned to the Room of Hidden Things, however, that sentiment was lost, along with every other emotion. She actually felt that it was amazingly peaceful. There was no anger, or sadness and certainly no loneliness. She was now entirely care-free.

Over the next few weeks, Emma became a creature of habit. She always arrived at her lessons just before they were due to start, took her notes diligently and looked at only the teacher or her work. As soon as the bell rang to leave, she was gone. In the corridors she remained hidden at all times, and avoided everyone as much as possible. During her breaks and free time, she returned to the hidden room.

A number of students, particularly Hermione, Harry and Ron, had noted her absence, both physically and emotionally. It wasn't surprising considering her face was devoid of feeling, and her eyes were cold and empty. She'd heard Hermione sob quietly during a lesson, but she really didn't care why. She'd made her choice.

Some teachers had noticed as well, particularly Professor Flitwick, who had remarked on Emma's ability to cast a charm they were supposed to be learning, before he'd even told them what the incantation was. He'd awarded her house points and when she neither smiled, nor ducked her head in embarrassment, he asked if she was feeling alright, which she simply ignored and went back to writing her notes.

Aside from going to lessons on time and hiding away during the day, she would still sneak around the school during the evening and at night. Her hard-wired need to explore hadn't gone anywhere. It was during one of these excursions, about half-an-hour before curfew, when she passed the Hospital Wing, and overheard a conversation between Madam Pomfrey, and Hermione.

'What's wrong with her?' asked Hermione, sobbing.

Confused, Emma got closer to the door. She wasn't going to go inside as Hermione was the only one who could make herself see Emma when she was hiding, and she didn't want to risk it.

'I'm afraid I don't know.' said Madam Pomfrey, solemnly. 'My knowledge on these matters isn't very extensive.'

'But you can make an educated guess... can't you?' stammered Hermione.

'Yes, I suppose so.' replied the matron, hesitantly. 'I suspect she's turned off her humanity, her emotions, to protect herself.'

Emma frowned at that. Were they talking about her.

'To protect herself? W-what do you mean?'

'Yes. If her emotions had gotten as strong as we think they did, perhaps your last encounter was simply too much for her. If she was unable to cope, then letting the vampire take over would shield her from the pain.'

'So she's gone feral?' gasped Hermione.

'No, I wouldn't say so necessarily. Feral vampires crave blood and hunt with impunity, but that's not Miss Pearson, is it?' said Madam Pomfrey, and Hermione shook her head. 'I expect the only difference between her now and before is her lack of emotions. I would still recommend caution, however. Emma is very intelligent, and now lacking a conscience, if provoked, she could be extremely dangerous, even to you.'

Emma had heard enough by then and moved on. Madam Pomfrey was wrong. No matter what Hermione did to her, she'd never hurt her, and that point was proven one Saturday morning on the second week of March. She was wandering around the school because it was a Quidditch match that day, and everyone was outside at the pitch, or so she thought.

She'd checked her map shortly before eleven o'clock in the morning, to see if anyone was still around, and she'd noticed Hermione in the library, alone. It was unusual for her to go anywhere without the boys, so Emma went to investigate, only she never got there.

When she rounded one of the corners that led to the library, she found a horrific sight that kick-started her emotions again and put them into overdrive.

There, on the floor, was Hermione, and she was as still as a statue.


	22. Chapter 22 - Guard Dog

**Chapter 22 – Guard Dog**

Emma tentatively approached Hermione. She was lying on the floor, unmoving, and Emma knew she was petrified, but the rush of her emotions returning was too much, too confusing and overpowering. As Emma got close enough to touch Hermione, she was crying again, and could only assume she was dead.

She leaned over Hermione, looking at her face. She still had her eyes open, staring at a mirror held in her hand. She tried tapping Hermione on the side of her face, and shaking her slightly, to wake her up, but nothing worked. She was breaking down again, and collapsed beside the motionless body of the bushy haired girl.

The last time she had felt like this, she had somehow turned her emotions off, but it wasn't enough, and now Emma retreated into herself. The pain of losing her friend was too much, and as she faded away, she let the vampire take over.

The vampire was a part of who she was, so she was still able to see, hear and feel, but it was incredibly dulled, focused in a very animalistic nature, on nothing but instincts and needs. Her body lowered into a crouch, on both hands and feet, leaned over Hermione and began smelling her, looking into her eyes, and again, tapping her face to get her to wake up. She couldn't smell anything except Hermione, and the other girl nearby, but the vampire couldn't care less about her, and as for Hermione's eyes, they never moved.

After a short while of that, Emma heard some footsteps approach, and immediately looked up in their direction, still leaning over Hermione, and poised, waiting for the threat to appear. It was Professor McGonagall, and there was a tiny spark of recognition in Emma's mind as she saw the tall, stern woman dressed in green. It didn't stop her from hissing and glaring at her though as the woman had gotten far too close. Emma instinctively crawled forward, putting herself between Hermione and the new danger.

Professor McGonagall had noticed that Emma wasn't behaving like herself over the past three weeks, and her falling out with Hermione, Harry and Ron was no secret among the staff, but for her to have fallen this far. She saw that Emma had been leaning over a body, and automatically assumed that Emma had killed them. She stepped back, as calmly as she could under the circumstances, and was about to pull her wand out when Emma turned and went back to the body on the floor, and, strangely, stroked it's cheek. McGonagall looked more closely and saw Hermione's tell-tale bushy hair.

McGonagall stepped forward, to see what was happening, when Emma, again, behaved very threateningly.

'Miss Pearson?' she asked, hesitantly, and received nothing but more hissing.

The professor tried to look around Emma, but the vampire kept getting in the way. Her first thought was that Emma was behaving very much like a guard-dog.

'Please, Mis- Emma.' she stammered, using a more personal approach. 'Is that Hermione?'

Emma raised her head curiously when McGonagall had said that, a clear spark of recognition on her face. Emma moved away, back to Hermione, afraid she might have disappeared, and tried to wake her again, which the professor used to step forward. When she was hissed at again, the threatening behaviour increasing, McGonagall put her hands up in a peaceful gesture.

'I'm not here to hurt her.' she said. 'I'm here to help.'

Emma lowered her head again, glaring and growling, not trusting the woman, yet she persisted, reiterating that she was there to help, and needed to see the bodies. The vampire slowly began to trust her, a part of her remembering that McGonagall was a nice person, and was always good to both her and Hermione. So Emma turned her attention back to Hermione, caressing her face, while McGonagall approached, cautiously.

When the professor went to reach a hand out to examine Hermione, she was hissed at again, and while it was nowhere near as vicious as before, it clearly meant that she would lose that hand if she tried anything.

'Please, I need to examine her.' said McGonagall.

Emma eventually made room by stepping back again, leaving Hermione between the two of them, a feeling her instincts rebelled against. McGonagall was done quickly, however, and when she moved over to the other girl, Emma went back to Hermione's side, protectively.

The professor began to explain that the two girls were petrified, like Colin and Justin, but the vampire didn't understand any of it. McGonagall seemed to realise this and tried something that might sink in.

'She's alive.' she said, simply and clearly.

There was a look of recognition again, but she still had to repeat it another two times before she was allowed to put Hermione onto a stretcher, and even longer still, speaking in simple child-like sentences to be able to take her to the Hospital Wing. Of course, the vampire didn't protest at all when McGonagall put the other girl, Penelope Clearwater, on a stretcher.

Emma led the way, looking and listening for any other threats, but none arrived. The corridors were empty, but she never strayed more than a foot from Hermione's stretcher though.

Problems arose when they got to the Hospital Wing, however, when Emma began behaving threateningly toward Madam Pomfrey. Luckily there weren't any other patients besides the petrified ones, so nobody saw, but it lasted a long time. Even with Professor McGonagall's assurances that the matron would help, Emma had a difficult time trusting her. All she could think of was human blood whenever she saw Madam Pomfrey, and a part of her hated her for it.

When Emma finally relented, grudgingly, they put Hermione on a cot on the far side of the hospital, and put the curtain on one side, to stop anyone from seeing Emma if they came inside, and she went back to crouching beside Hermione.

'I'm going to have to tell the headmaster there's been another attack.' said McGonagall, solemnly. 'He'll want to enforce a stricter curfew, and that will mean cancelling Quidditch. I'm sure Potter and Weasley will want to see Hermione, too.'

At the boys name's, Emma hissed angrily at McGonagall.

'As if this weren't unpleasant enough.' said the professor before leaving.

A short while later, Emma could hear Professor McGonagall return, with two others. She knew who they were immediately and began glaring before they'd even come around the front of the curtains. She also heard McGonagall whisper to the two of them.

'Please, keep your distance from her. You've said you know that she is a vampire, but she is currently not herself.'

After that, the boys cautiously approached Hermione's cot, from a distance like they were told, but they weren't prepared, not at all. Emma stepped forward, keeping Hermione behind her, and the aggression she showed McGonagall, or even Madam Pomfrey, was nothing compared to what she gave the boys.

Ron immediately backed away, terrified. Her eyes were cold and dead and her face animated only in fury. Harry, however, stood his ground, even going so far as to take a step forward, which was a mistake.

The vampire saw that as a threat and paced forward, slowly, growling, still crouched, staring Harry in the eyes. As she got closer, she began to stand again, until she was a few feet away, her face turning to a look of disgust. She then made a very slow and very deliberate move with her right hand, keeping her left free to attack if need be, and pointed to Hermione. What followed was a strange choked noise coming from Emma.

'Your... fault.' it sounded like.

Harry began to protest, saying 'No...', when the vampire, furious, instantly closed the distance between them growing her claws and putting them up against his throat, and her eyes beginning to glow a bright luminous green, an inch from Harry's.

Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey both reacted by drawing their wands and pointing them at Emma, though they were both far too slow to have saved his life if that's what the vampire had intended to do. Harry, however, raised his hand a little behind him to get them to lower their wands.

'Your fault.' repeated Emma, a little clearer this time and with more malice.

It seemed that she was having to remember how to talk again, having spent nearly three weeks not saying a single word apart from a few spell incantations.

At first, Harry remained impassive, but he soon broke down.

'We should have gone with her.' he said, looking upset. 'She ran off saying she'd thought of something, and all we did was go to Quidditch.'

Seeing the look of remorse on Harry's face, Emma relented. Her claws shrunk, her eyes went back to a dark green, and she went back to Hermione's side, tapping her face again. She didn't react when Harry got closer, but when Ron tried, Emma hissed at him, keeping him away.

After a while, they all left, except Madam Pomfrey who returned to her office, and so it was just Emma left protecting Hermione from shadows.

Emma continued trying to wake Hermione, unable to process her being petrified. The tall woman dressed in green had said she was alive, so surely she would wake up soon.

It had gotten very dark as the hours passed, and Emma never left Hermione's side. Madam Pomfrey came by to check on her every so often, but a quick glare sent her away again. She was confused, however, when after Madam Pomfrey had gone to bed, she heard two sets of footsteps approach her, and they sounded like they were hobbling, as if restrained.

Emma quickly put herself into a protective position, ready for when whoever they were to show themselves as they came around the curtain, but when the footsteps stopped right in front of her, with no sign of any people, she growled angrily at empty space. It was familiar somehow, but couldn't recall anything, until something silvery and shimmering fell to the floor, revealing Harry and Ron.

They had cleverly stopped a good distance away from her, for their own safety as well as trying to make a good impression, and they both began to plead with her, to let them see Hermione. Even Ron started apologising, and the emotion both of the boys were showing seemed genuine.

It was so genuine, in fact, that Emma began to feel again, ever so slightly. The vampire was letting her have some emotion again, but not all at once. It started with one feeling in particular, vengeance. Hermione was here, in the Hospital Wing, not because of their argument, not because of Harry or Ron, and not even because of Draco. She was here because of the heir and the Chamber of Secrets, and Emma was going to get revenge.

Emma's pupils began to thin, becoming like those of a cat, and her eyes began to glow again. In the dark, with the boys so close, the light was illuminating their faces and reflected in their own eyes. Her claws grew too and even her teeth, and all of these changes made the boys back away, scared that they were the intended target, but they weren't. Emma ran right through the middle of them, making Ron scream out in fright, and she had only one destination in mind; the Slytherin common room.

While Emma knew that Draco wasn't the heir, he knew more about the Chamber than anyone else she knew of, and she still hated him, so it was time to get him to squeal. As she had taken to checking the Slytherin common room's password every evening for the past three weeks, she slipped in easily, and went straight for Draco's room.

It seemed he had learned his lesson from the prank she had pulled on him and gotten himself a Sneakoscope, though like others, it was hidden away in the bottom of his trunk. That wasn't going to stop Emma this time. She opened the door and cast the silencing charm on the trunk before creeping inside.

She opened the curtains to Draco's bed, sneaked in and closed them again, casting a silencing charm on them as well. It wouldn't do for others to hear him. She then straddled his sleeping body and gave him a nightmare, the one of the snake she'd used to make him fall off the moving staircase and within seconds he was wide awake. When he woke, it was so dark that all he could see were two bright green eyes looking at him, and they clearly weren't human. He was about to scream out loud when Emma put her claws to his throat and he very quickly went silent.

Not wanting to talk, to keep him thinking she wasn't human, Emma remembered the sign on the wall when Mrs Norris was found and forced the image into his mind.

 _THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED._

 _ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE._

Draco flinched and then Emma stopped. He still wasn't talking, so Emma relaxed her claws a little, and that opened the flood gates. He began blabbering, saying he knew nothing of the Chamber of Secrets, that his father wouldn't tell him anything, but his father knew why it was happening. The curious way he spoke gave the impression that he thought Emma was the Slytherin Monster, and he was saying he didn't know anything about it, so that he couldn't reveal the heir's identity, ensuring they wouldn't be caught. It made some sense to Emma though, the boy was a true coward, and a snitch, and he gave up everything he knew, with virtually no resistance, but it left Emma with a dilemma. He wasn't the heir, and he didn't know who it was, but he was still Draco, still the filthy pure-blood she'd tried to kill, and it would be so easy to finish him off now.

A single moment passed before Emma stopped. Hermione would know, and she was finally beginning to realise that it was her own behaviour that had caused their rift. Annoyed at being no closer to an answer, Emma gave Draco a terrible vision again as she left the room, cancelling her silencing charms while she was at it.

Furious, and vengeance still not fulfilled, Emma returned to the Room of Hidden Things, and plotted. The vampire still hadn't let her feel any other emotions yet, whether that was because it was being selfish, or still protecting her, she didn't know, but it was better than nothing. She had a purpose now, and that was to kill the Slytherin Monster.

After Hermione had been petrified, Emma never went anywhere during the day, not to the Gryffindor Tower, the library or even to classes. She only left the hidden room at night, to patrol the corridors and to visit Hermione, to make sure she was still unchanged.

It was during one of these midnight patrols, a few days after she had found Hermione, that she saw Ginny wandering around the castle on her map, and after everything suspicious that had happened around that girl, Emma had to investigate. If she was being controlled by the heir, then she was going to find out who it was.

There was a problem, however, when Ginny disappeared from her map, from Myrtle's bathroom. It seemed there must be a secret passageway there that Emma hadn't found yet, so she rushed there as quick as she could, only she heard that strange rustling sound again before she'd gotten anywhere near.

She hid behind a corner, one where she knew the real monster was on the other side, and prepared herself to kill it. She needed to do it, every fibre of her being craving to see it lying dead, to get revenge, except it was far bigger than she had anticipated. It was a vast snake, much taller than she was, with incredible fangs that dwarfed her own. Well, that explained why Harry could hear it talk and nobody else could. She instinctually looked up, to see it's eyes, and immediately, everything went black.


	23. Chapter 23 - Vengeance

**Chapter 23 – Vengeance**

It was still dark when Emma woke up, and she was sure she hadn't been out for long, otherwise someone would have found her. Whatever the beast had done to her, it hurt, a lot. Her whole body ached, particularly her head, and it took a great deal of effort to drag herself to a wall and lean against it.

' _What was that?_ ' she wondered.

It seemed somewhat familiar to her as she'd seen something like it in one of the library books when looking for the Acromantulas, but she couldn't remember it. She was curious, however, to realise that the foul snake had killed her. It hadn't killed anyone before, and she wondered why that was.

' _Yes it has._ ' she corrected herself. ' _It killed someone the last time it was opened, a young girl._ '

Her eyes bulged, it was Myrtle, it had to be. If her bathroom was the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, then it made sense for Myrtle to have died there. That didn't answer why nobody else had died though.

As she leaned against the wall, waiting for her aches to heal, she pictured the creature in her head, trying to remember every single detail. It had been truly enormous, a vile and dark shade of green, and it's eyes had been bright yellow.

The only thing she cared about now, however, was how she was going to get revenge. Nothing else mattered. It had tried to kill Hermione, and now Emma too, which it had even succeeded at, and that was a mistake. It was going to pay. She just had to find out what it is and what it's capable of, as well as exactly where it's hiding.

Finding out what type of creature the snake was turned out to be more difficult than Emma thought. Once she was able to stand up, she immediately ran to the library, to find the book she had given Hermione on Acromantulas, and quickly skimmed through it to find a page on large snakes. She didn't find it, but there was a torn out page in the middle of the book that hadn't been like that the last time. The book also had Hermione's scent all over it.

Confused, Emma put the book down and wondered. Harry said that Hermione had run off, having realised something, and this must be what she went to find. Of course she did, she must have realised why Harry could hear it talk when they couldn't.

Quickly, Emma ran from the library, straight to the Hospital Wing. Nobody else was inside except for Madam Pomfrey who was asleep. She sped to Hermione's side, and looked at her. If she had torn the page out, probably to show Harry and Ron, it must be on her somewhere, so Emma checked her pockets, but there was nothing. Trying to smell for paper didn't help either, Hermione always smelt of books. After a few moments of confusion, Emma realised the mirror was gone from Hermione's left hand, and decided to check her right. It was held tight in a fist, though there was definitely some paper inside and it took a lot of effort to get out without ripping it, but she managed and quickly read what was on it.

 _Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach a gigantic size, and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eyes shall suffer instant death._

'Well, that explains how it killed me.' mumbled Emma, to herself, before continuing.

 _Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it._

Beneath all that writing, scribbled at the bottom of the page in Hermione's very familiar tiny script, was one word; _Pipes_.

That made a lot of sense. For a serpent of that size to have been able to get around the school unseen for nearly a year, it had to have a way of moving that didn't involve using the corridors. It could also explain why Emma saw it where she did. At the time she had been near a boy's bathroom on the second floor, on her way to Myrtle's. It must have heard her approach.

The one thing Emma couldn't pin down for another minute or so was why nobody else had died from its stare, though, again, Hermione had the answer for that. The mirror she was carrying. Being petrified must be the result of seeing the Basilisk's eyes indirectly. Mrs Norris had had the water on the floor from Myrtle flooding the corridor, Colin had been looking through his camera and Justin had seen it through Nearly Headless Nick.

That was going to be a big problem to overcome. Emma might not be able to die permanently from the stare, but it still put her out cold for at least an hour, and she wouldn't be able to get revenge if she was petrified. She could hope that maybe her resistance to magic could protect her, if she used a mirror, like Hermione had, but she wasn't going to risk it.

Her best bet, according to the page Hermione had found, was to find a Rooster, though she wasn't holding out much hope. She'd seen the result of Ginny killing at least one of Hagrid's, and she suspected that they were all dead by now.

Unfortunately, Emma's suspicions were right. Hagrid had no more Roosters left, and, curiously, he was nowhere to be found. He wasn't asleep in his hut, though she could hear Nephthys inside. There was a very tiny flicker of emotion inside her as she thought of her raven, but the vampire quickly put it out. It only cared for vengeance.

Emma's next step was to find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets inside Myrtle's bathroom. Ginny had disappeared there, so she knew that was the location, but Ginny had completed whatever it was she was doing inside by the time Emma had woken up after dying, and was asleep again in the dormitory when Emma checked the map.

Emma returned there every night, checking every little thing, even talking to Myrtle, who knew very little about both her own death, and Ginny coming and going. It wasn't too surprising considering she was nearly always crying in one of the U-bends, but it was still unhelpful.

Other than searching the bathroom, which was keeping it's secrets almost as well as Barnabas had, she continued to watch her map, particularly Ginny. The little Weasley girl never went back to Myrtle's bathroom after Emma's death though, so Emma was really beginning to wonder whether she had been right about her after all.

After spending two weeks searching, and learning nothing new, Emma was getting increasingly frustrated. Her need to kill the Basilisk only got worse, and she was doing all she could to find a way inside the chamber. One night, she was watching the Gryffindor common room on her map, looking for Ginny, when she saw Harry and Ron leave their dormitory. This was unusual for them, and Emma wondered if they had anything to tell her about the chamber, so she went to intercept them.

They seemed to be heading toward the Entrance Hall, using an inefficient route, and they were going very slowly, standing close together, so they must be using the cloak again.

Emma managed to get ahead of them with ease and sat right in the centre of the Entrance Hall, unhidden, and waited. Even without her map she knew when they were getting closer. She started hearing their shuffling feet long before they got to the marble staircase, and when they got to the top, she could tell they'd noticed her. Their heartbeats started going faster, clearly uneasy.

They walked down the stairs and then took off the cloak.

' _Where have you been_?' said Ron, much too loud and angry.

There were no teachers nearby to hear, but Harry still shushed him, and Emma simply ignored him.

'Have you found a way inside the chamber yet?' asked Emma to Harry, in a voice that sent chills down the boys backs. It was cold, emotionless and sinister.

'No.' said Harry. 'We're doing what Hagrid said, to follow the spiders.'

'Why?'

'To find out what the monster is.'

Emma looked at the two of them, her eyes frowning. They were useless.

'So what have you been doing for the past two weeks?' she asked, still cold. 'It's as if you don't want revenge for Hermione.'

'You're one to talk!' exclaimed Ron. 'What have you be-'

' _Silencio._ ' incanted Emma, casually aiming her wand at Ron, before turning to Harry. 'The monster is a Basilisk, the Chamber of Secrets is in Myrtle's bathroom, and Ginny is the one that keeps opening it.'

Ron looked furious and began trying to shout obscenities at her, but couldn't make a sound.

'How do you know all that?' asked Harry, nervously.

It seemed that he was having difficulty with Emma being so cold, her ease at silencing Ron, but also his eagerness for information. Emma passed over the bit of paper Hermione had ripped from the book, but otherwise ignored his question and asked one of her own.

'So you don't know how to open the chamber?'

'No.' said Harry again, solemnly.

'Fine, I'll just have to find and kill the Basilisk myself then.' she said, before making herself unnoticeable and running back to Myrtle's bathroom.

When she checked her map a few minutes later, Harry and Ron were already heading back to the dormitory, obviously having decided that whatever they were planning to do was now pointless. It probably didn't help that Emma hadn't removed the silencing charm from Ron.

The next day, things changed, dramatically. Emma was hiding out in the Room of Hidden Things, like always, when she noticed Ginny wasn't in class like she should be. When Emma checked around Myrtle's bathroom, and Ginny was stood outside it, Emma ran as fast as she could, however, by the time she got there, Ginny had already gone inside the Chamber.

Focused on nothing else, Emma waited inside the bathroom, hidden, for Ginny to leave, so she could go inside, but it never happened. The only sound or movement was Myrtle, until later that night when Emma saw Harry and Ron walking to the bathroom on her map with none other than Lockhart.

They came inside and busied themselves looking for something to allow them entry to the chamber, when Harry asked Myrtle how she'd died, and annoyingly, she was far more helpful to him than she had been to Emma. It allowed Harry to find a Snake engraving on one of the taps that Emma hadn't noticed.

'Harry,' said Ron. 'say something. Something in Parseltongue.'

'But-' stammered Harry, before pausing. 'Open up.'

'English.' said Ron, shaking his head.

Harry tried again, only this time he hissed, and the sink and taps shrank away, exposing a large pipe leading underground.

'I'm going down there.' said Harry.

Emma, however, was already one step ahead of them.

'Thanks, boys.' she said, coldly, before jumping down ahead of Harry while they were distracted with Lockhart.

The pipe went on for a lot longer than she had expected, and she noticed there were a lot of other pipes connected to it. No wonder the Basilisk could get around so easily. When the pipe finally levelled out, she found herself deposited into a damp stone tunnel that must be somewhere under the lake.

She didn't hang around though, quick to get to her feet and run. The boys must be here to save Ginny, and she wasn't going to stop them, but the Basilisk was _hers_ to kill, not theirs. Keeping her ears out, and making herself hidden again, she ran through the tunnels.

The whole area was littered with rodent skeletons and she even saw some shed skin of the Basilisk along the way, but she ignored it. Eventually, she came to a stone wall with two serpents engraved on it, each of it's eyes set with huge emeralds.

Annoyed, Emma copied the hissing that Harry had spoken in the bathroom, but she couldn't get it right. No matter how hard she tried, the door refused to open. Furious, she ran back to find Harry. He was going to open it for her, whatever it took.

As she was sure the Basilisk wasn't anywhere near them, she made herself noticeable again and approached the boys. They were standing around by the snake skin, doing nothing, obviously in no rush, and when they heard Emma, Harry quickly turned, pointing his wand at her, clearly very jumpy.

'What are _you_ doing here?' glared Ron.

'I'm here to kill the Basilisk.' said Emma in that same cold and emotionless voice as before, turning to glare at Ron. 'And if you try to stop me, I'll kill you too.'

Ron backed away, already afraid, however, he was quickly taken by surprise by Lockhart, who took his broken, Spellotaped wand.

'The adventure ends here, children!' he said. 'I shall take a bit of this skin back up to the school, tell them I was too late to save the girl, and that you three tragically lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body. Say goodbye to your memories!'

The wand was pointed at Ron, and Emma just watched, curious, as Lockhart tried to cast _Obliviate_ on him. Harry tried to jump forward to stop him, but Emma quickly grabbed his arm and held him back. If he got hurt, he wouldn't be able to open the door, and Emma couldn't let that happen.

What none of them had taken into account, which Emma had, was how Ron's wand hadn't cast a single spell successfully the entire year, and nearly always backfired, which it did this time, exploding like a bomb, and caused a huge cave-in. It trapped Harry and Emma on one side, with Ron and Lockhart on the other.

'Are you coming?' asked Emma, as if nothing had happened and started walking away, back to the serpent door.

It took a short while, of Harry seeing if Ron was alright, before he finally caught up.

'You wouldn't really kill me if I tried to stop you, would you?' he asked, tentatively, after a moment of awkward silence.

Emma just ignored him, until they got to the stone door.

'Open it.' she commanded.

He looked at her, his face covered in conflicting emotions, before turning back to the door and hissed again. The door split in two down the middle, and each side retreated smoothly into the walls. Ahead of them lay the very long chamber, with towering stone pillars, entwined in yet more serpents. The two of them looked up to the ceiling, yet even Emma couldn't make it out in the darkness.

Emma started to grin wickedly as she got herself ready for a fight, her eyes starting to glow again. She extended her claws, and her teeth, and started walking inside, with a shaking Harry a step behind her.

'If you feel the Basilisk coming toward you, Harry, close your eyes.' she hissed at him. 'You'll be a useless distraction if you're dead.'

Harry was about to complain, but Emma had hidden herself again, and he couldn't help it when his attention was drawn elsewhere.

Emma stayed behind Harry while he walked forward, too slowly for her liking, with his wand out. He kept jumping at shadows, and Emma could tell that the snakes on the pillars were creeping him out. At least he was braver than Ron though, and they eventually made it to the end of the chamber where they were towered over by a huge statue that could only be Salazar Slytherin.

' _Ginny!_ ' muttered Harry, sprinting off to a point between the statue's feet. 'Ginny, please wake up.'

'She won't wake.' said a soft voice, appearing from behind one of the pillars.

Harry jumped, spinning around on his knees to see the tall, dark-haired boy that had spoken, but Emma was impatient to find the Basilisk. A small part of her was curious why the boy looked partially like a ghost, but not enough to care.

She stayed behind this incorporeal boy, crouched, unmoving and waited while he talked with Harry. She even remained still while the boy took Harry's wand without him noticing, and she kept her fury back while they began to argue. The boy, Tom Riddle, or Voldemort, whichever name he was using, had Harry in a terrible position, and was gloating about his power, but Emma needed the Basilisk to arrive, or she would go mad with anticipation.

'You're not,' said Harry, continuing their conversation, his voice becoming more like Emma's, hate filled and cold.

'Not what?' snapped Tom.

'Not the greatest sorcerer in the world.' replied Harry. 'Sorry to disappoint you, and all that, but the greatest wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore.'

They kept arguing, but were quickly silenced when a strange music filled the chamber. It was doing weird things to Emma, calming her, making her feel some emotions again, but the vampire fought it, fought Emma, keeping her locked within its rage.

When the cause appeared, a phoenix, clearly Fawkes, it flew over to Harry and dropped what looked like the sorting hat into his lap, before circling around to land on Harry's shoulder. Tom was laughing maniacally, finding it all hilarious.

'This is what Dumbledore sends his defender! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do you feel safe now?'

Harry didn't look like he felt safe at all, but he was every bit a Gryffindor as Godric himself, and kept Tom talking, until, finally, Tom had had enough, hissing in the bizarre snake language. In response, the statue of Salazar was opening at the mouth, and Emma heard her prey slither up through the statue. Quickly, Emma swung around one of the pillars, keeping herself hidden from the Basilisk. She wasn't sure if her ability worked on it, so she was really hoping Harry would be able to keep it distracted long enough.

Emma felt the floor shudder as the King of Serpents hit the ground, and then a command from Tom to kill Harry, Emma presumed, because it went straight for him. Harry had done exactly as Emma had said and closed his eyes, but he was just a pitiful human with weak senses, so when he tried to flee, he tripped and fell. Emma was beginning to think she was going to have to fight the Basilisk on her own, when she heard Fawkes fly down at the snake and gouge one of its eyes out. Smirking, Emma stayed exactly where she was and waited for it to take care of the other eye, after that, nothing would stop her.

As soon as the other eye had been removed, Emma sprang at the snake. It was focused on Harry, and so she came at it from the side. It was still thrashing its tail from being hurt, but Emma was quick enough to dodge it. As soon as she was close enough, she took all of her claws and stabbed them into its hide. The hide was tough, but her claws were incredibly sharp, piercing it with ease, only, they weren't very long, and its skin was very thick. It seemed that the snake barely even noticed over the pain of having its eyes removed.

Angry, Emma pulled her claws down, raking the side of the snake, causing ten thin tears. That seemed to get its attention and it flailed its body to knock her away, but she was already gone. It was hopeless, her only weapons were useless against the creature, and magic would be no use on something that size.

Harry seemed to have the same idea, he was muttering out loud.

'Help me, help me, someone, anyone!'

He dived out of the way of another swipe of the snake's tail, when the sorting hat was thrown right into his hands. He put it on and collapsed to the floor, narrowly avoiding another attack. Strangely, a moment later, Emma heard a quiet knock as something fell out of the hat and hit Harry on the head. He lifted up the hat and pulled out a shiny, gleaming, silver sword covered in rubies.

' _No!_ ' hissed Emma, as Harry dodged a lunge from the snake. It was her kill, not his!

Harry had gotten to his feet, but Emma was quicker, and as the snake lunged again at Harry, she got her wand out and cast the disarming charm on him. She didn't mean to make it so strong, but she couldn't let him kill it. The sword was thrown from his hands, right toward Emma, and he was knocked backwards, into a pillar, but not before the snake had managed to pierce his leg with one of its fangs.

Emma, however, hadn't noticed that detail, and began a rampage against the snake. Getting its attention by cutting it, and stabbing it in the side and then making a point of cutting off both its fangs before she finally thrust the sword through the roof of its mouth. The snake keeled over, and Emma got covered in its blood which smelt disgusting, but there was no relief, no satisfaction, only emptiness.

She staggered backward, away from the Basilisk, dropping the sword as she went, and collapsed to her knees, head hanging down, as all feeling left her. The vampire had gotten its revenge and retreated back into itself, only, nothing else came out, there was simply a void.


	24. Chapter 24 - Awoken

**Chapter 24 – Awoken**

Hermione woke with a start. The last thing she remembered was peering around a corner using her mirror, only to see the bright yellow eyes of the Basilisk. Now she was waking up in the Hospital Wing, as if no time had passed.

She was desperate to tell Madam Pomfrey, and the matron was patient as always.

'It's a Basilisk!' she exclaimed, immediately.

'We know, dear.' said the matron, soothingly. 'Mister Potter and mister Weasley saved Ginny, and the creature was taken care of. Everyone is safe.'

Hermione was pleased, of course, but she couldn't help worrying.

'And Emma?' she asked, apprehensively.

'I don't know, nobody has seen her in weeks.' said the matron. 'Not since the night after you were petrified.'

Now Hermione was _really_ worried.

'Did she... see me... petrified?' she stammered.

Emma had always been protective of her, this year particularly, and while she didn't understand why, she knew what Emma might do if something happened to her.

'She was the one that found you.' sighed Madam Pomfrey. 'She... did not take it well.'

The matron was editing, that much was obvious. Hermione needed to find Emma before she hurt someone, but then a thought occurred to her that she should have asked first.

'How long have I been here?'

'Nearly four weeks.' said the matron.

Hermione was horrified. She'd missed a month of lessons, homework and revision, and Emma had had enough time to attack anyone in revenge. She was scared that Emma may have killed Draco and gotten herself executed, and that's why nobody had seen her.

Hermione needed to know whether Draco was still alive, but for that she'd need to find Harry and Ron. She thanked Madam Pomfrey and rushed out, but not before the matron had told her it was breakfast time and that she should get something to eat. That was perfect. She knew the boys would be there.

When Hermione got to the Great Hall and looked inside, she could see Harry and Ron sat at the Gryffindor table, eating their breakfast, clearly unenthused. Despite everyone else in the Great Hall being very cheerful, they were moping. She also quickly looked to the Slytherin table, and saw Draco sitting there, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, looking more annoyed than ever, but still definitely alive. Grinning, despite her worries, Hermione ran into the hall to greet Harry and Ron, embracing them both.

'You solved it! You solved it!' she screamed, giddily.

'We couldn't have done it without you.' said Harry, before pausing awkwardly. 'Or Emma.'

Hermione was confused by their reaction. There was no hate, no anger, only shame. Even Ron, the most vocal against Emma, was looking down and away, guiltily.

'What happened?' she asked, wanting everything to start making sense.

Again, the boys looked awkwardly at each other, and then Harry indicated for them to find somewhere more private. Grabbing some toast and heading to a disused classroom that reminded Hermione too much of her argument with Emma, Harry and Ron began explaining everything that happened after Hermione had been petrified.

First and foremost was Emma's reaction. The boys described, in too much detail, how Emma had lost herself after finding Hermione, and how she aggressively protected her. It was upsetting to hear. She'd already made Emma lose her emotions after their argument, and still felt incredibly guilty about it. It had felt like the right thing to do at the time, to protect Emma from herself by removing the cause of her outbursts; Hermione. She still didn't understand why she had such an effect on the little vampire, but it was becoming clearer that separation had only made things worse.

The boys continued their explanation with Emma's rage-out in the Hospital Wing just before their trip to Hagrid's, to ask him about the chamber, but it all went wrong when the Minister for Magic arrived to have Hagrid carted off to Azkaban, and Lucius Malfoy had Dumbledore sacked. Before Hagrid had left, however, he had told the boys to ' _Follow the spiders_ '.

They said that after that, nobody saw Emma again, and the teachers were very worried that she may have been attacked, but nobody could find her body. Though when Harry and Ron finally found some spiders, trying to flee to the Forest, they went out that night, and saw Emma in the Entrance Hall.

Their description of her was heartbreaking, consumed by rage, clearly not herself. Hermione knew that the vampire must have taken over by that point. She could only hope that Emma might be able to return, otherwise she would be lost forever.

She wasn't surprised when Harry told her that Emma had figured out where the Chamber of Secrets was, or that Ginny was being forced to open it. Emma had always been very perceptive, and the three of them had ignored her.

After that, Harry ran through what happened when Ginny had been taken into the chamber, along with everything else that happened, up to and including Emma's threat to kill them if they got in her way.

'She really said that?' asked Hermione, shaking with worry.

'Yes, and when I asked her if she meant it, after Lockhart's spell backfired, she ignored me.'

Harry was beginning to show some anger toward Emma now, especially as he continued the story into what happened inside the chamber, after the hat had given him the sword.

'She disarmed me!' he snapped. 'Her spell took the sword right out of my hands and knocked me into a pillar. I even got bitten by the snake on my leg.'

He huffed indignantly before continuing.

'She killed the Basilisk though. Better than I could, that's for sure. She was so fast!' he said, becoming a little awed. 'But after, she just stopped, fell to her knees and... stopped.'

He shrugged, not able to guess what had happened.

'Next thing I know, Fawkes has healed me with his tears and dropped the diary into my lap. I stabbed it with one of the Basilisk fangs that Emma had cut off, and Riddle died.'

'And Emma?' asked Hermione.

'I don't know.' said Harry. 'I couldn't get her to move, and Ginny needed help, so I had to leave her there.'

Hermione sighed, worried again.

'Do you know where she is now?' she asked, but both boys shook their heads, again, ashamed. 'We need to find her.'

'But she's dangerous!' snapped Ron, scared.

'Yes, I know,' replied Hermione, a bit more aggressively than she intended. 'but she can't help being a vampire. We should have done more for her, instead of pushing her away.'

'Where should we look?' asked Harry, apprehensively.

'Ron, check every corner of the library, Harry, try the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor, and I will check the dormitory.' she said, bossily. 'Meet outside the library when you're done.'

The three of them split up, going their separate ways. Hermione rushed up to the Gryffindor common room, where she was greeted and welcomed back by a number of other students, which was a surprise. When she was able to get up to the dormitory, she focused very hard on trying to see Emma so that even if she was hiding, Hermione could find her, but there was nothing.

There was no trunk, or cage for Nephthys, and it reminded her of the day she had woken up to find them gone, along with the reasons for why it happened in the first place, and it upset her again. Shaking her head, she headed back down to the library. If only she still had Emma's map, they could find her in an instant.

Ron and Harry were already stood outside when Hermione got to the library, neither having any luck either.

'You said the last time you saw her was in the chamber.' said Hermione, thinking. 'Do you think she's still there?'

'I don't see how.' replied Harry, sceptical. 'It was nearly a week ago.'

'We need to make sure.' said Hermione, resolutely.

Grudgingly, Harry and Ron led the way to Myrtle's bathroom, and Harry opened the pipe to the chamber. He slid down first, followed by Hermione, and then Ron. They quickly got to the site of the cave-in, and crawled through, passed the snake skin that made them all nervous, and to the door with two serpents on. Harry hissed in parseltongue again and the door separated, sliding into the walls, revealing the chamber again.

Harry looked uncomfortable being back inside, but Ron and Hermione were curious. They all walked slowly down the thin chamber until they finally saw the Basilisk, lying dead in the distance. As they got closer, they saw a small figure, back facing them, on their knees, in front of the dead creature.

'She...' stammered Harry, unsettled. 'She hasn't moved.'

Hermione looked between Emma and Harry, the shock evident on his face, before she couldn't help herself and ran to Emma, tears on her face. She fell to her knees as well and threw her arms around the vampire and leaned her head onto the back of Emma's neck and cried.

Hermione had no idea how long they were like that for, with her crying, the boys standing around behind them looking awkward and Emma unresponsive, but something began to stir.

Emma felt a warmth around her, and she found her body again, very slowly. It took her a long time before she could twitch her fingers, and hear the three heartbeats behind her, even the one inches from her own. After a while, she could open her eyes, not sure what she was looking at. Her head was still hanging down in front of her, and she thought she could see a hand, or a wrist, until she saw two patterned, thread bracelets, and a switch flicked in her head.

'H,' she croaked, her voice barely audible. 'mia?'

It was quiet, but as Hermione was still holding on to her tightly, she felt the effort and let go, to move around to Emma's side. She looked dreadful, covered in the Basilisk's blood, and it had dried, covering her clothes and skin, as well as caking in her hair. Her eyes were a remarkably dark green that Hermione hadn't seen before, but she recognised them from the boys description of her after finding Hermione petrified.

'Emma?' she asked, looking into those deep eyes, concerned.

Emma blinked, as if waking up from a nightmare, confused, as not only did her consciousness return, but all of her emotions too. She managed to croak out another ' _Mia?_ ' before she started bawling her eyes out, holding on to Hermione as tightly as she could. Hermione barely noticed as she was doing the same, and there they sat for another short time.

'I'm s-so... s-sorry.' said Emma, between sobs.

Everything had become clear in her absence, and she remembered everything. She had so much to apologise for, and she couldn't say it enough. Eventually, Emma was cradled in Hermione's arms, crying and apologising for everything. Her behaviour towards Hermione and Harry, but most of all Ron, who had certainly gotten the worst of her temper. She also apologised for her treatment of Draco, and was going to promise not to do it again, but as soon as she uttered the word, she remembered how many promises she'd already broken and started crying again. When she remembered Nephthys, that triggered another wave, until after a long time, she was out of tears.

Hermione had tried to calm her down, by forgiving her because the vampire had taken over, but that turned out to be the wrong thing to say, as Emma had said that the vampire only took over after Hermione had been petrified. Everything else was really Emma, and it made her so ashamed.

When Emma was done, Harry helped her and Hermione stand, both of them unsteady on their feet after kneeling on the floor for too long, and holding onto each other for support, they left the chamber.

'We need to speak to... Madam Pomfrey.' stammered Emma, nervously.

She didn't want to start drinking human blood, but she knew now that she had to if she was going to get better.

'You don't have to.' replied Hermione, trying to calm Emma. 'I'm sure we could find another way.'

'I do.' said Emma, shaking her head. 'This can't happen again.'

'Alright.' said Hermione, squeezing Emma's hand comfortingly, before smiling a little. 'You need to get cleaned up first.'

Emma looked down at herself, sniffed and nodded. She looked and smelled disgusting.

'How are we going to get up this time?' asked Ron from ahead.

They'd just gotten back to the pipe, and there didn't seem to be an easy way up.

'I don't know.' said Harry, confused.

'Ginny managed it.' said Emma, quietly. 'Try something in parseltongue.'

'I can't.' he said, worrying slightly. 'I can only speak it if I can see a snake that looks real.'

'Uhm... I can...' whispered Emma, unsure, looking to Hermione. 'No, never mind.'

'You can, what?' asked Ron.

Hermione, however, was looking between Emma and Harry, before nodding to Emma.

'Try it.' she said.

'Okay, Harry, relax.' said Emma, quietly. 'I'm going to show you something, but it's not real.'

Emma pictured the basilisk in her mind, remembering how it moved, and then projected it to Harry. He flinched back, nervous, but Hermione was quick to repeat that it wasn't real.

'Try saying something to what she's showing you.' she suggested.

Harry went to speak, but all the other three heard was hissing. Nothing happened, and then Harry tried a few other hisses, when suddenly the stone slab that they were all standing on started lifting into the air, levitating them out of the pipe until they were deposited out into the bathroom.

'So, where's your trunk?' asked Hermione.

'I... hid it... after...' stammered Emma, ducking her head, ashamed.

'Let's get it and you cleaned up.' said Hermione, taking charge.

Emma nodded before she turned to the boys. 'Could you please tell Professor McGonagall to meet us in the Hospital Wing? I think she's going to want to bring Professor Dumbledore as well.'

The three of them protested, even Ron, surprisingly, but Hermione most of all.

'Emma!' she gasped. 'You can't-'

'They need to know what I've done.' said Emma, firmly. 'No matter what happens. _Please_.'

Harry and Ron did as they were asked and left, followed by Emma and Hermione who went up to the seventh floor to get Emma's trunk. Emma had to hide the whole way, because of the state she was in, but Hermione was able to focus and see her.

When they got there, Emma gave Hermione instructions to pace in front of the blank wall and think only of wanting to find that which is hidden.

' _Look_ at all these books!' gasped Hermione, giddily, once she was inside, making Emma giggle.

They went quite deep into the room until they came across Emma's little nest. She'd cleared a small circle of floor space, enough to fit her trunk and sit inside. Surrounding it, however, was hundreds of pieces of completely smashed furniture. Hermione pretended not to notice, knowing that Emma must have broken them herself, and she felt another pang of guilt at what she'd done to her friend.

Emma took her trunk and the two of them left, quickly heading back to the Gryffindor Tower, depositing the trunk back into it's rightful place, and then Emma got cleaned up. She hid herself again as they made their way to the Hospital Wing, where Emma stood nervously outside the door. She could hear Madam Pomfrey, Harry, Ron, McGonagall and Dumbledore all in there, talking quietly to each other, waiting for her. She was so scared, and honestly considered running away, but Hermione took her hand and walked in with her.


	25. Chapter 25 - Leniency

**Chapter 25 – Leniency**

As soon as they heard the door, the others all went quiet, turning to Emma and Hermione, expectantly. Emma shied away from the attention of so many people, but Hermione nudged her forward, gently.

'Miss Pearson! We were so worried about you.' gasped Professor McGonagall.

Relief was all over her face, though she seemed to be the only one. Madam Pomfrey had her stern matron expression on while Harry and Ron looked disconcerted, like they were out of place. Dumbledore, however, had the calm and smiling mask that he nearly always wore, so it was difficult to know what he was thinking.

Emma ducked her head, ashamed. She'd caused so much hurt to so many people this year that she didn't think she could ever redeem herself.

'Where have you been?' asked McGonagall, concerned.

'It's a long story.' said Emma, quietly, shrinking.

She really didn't want to tell it because it would make everything that had happened real, and she was scared. She was sure Dumbledore could expel her for any number of reasons, but as they all looked at her, waiting, she started.

They all settled onto some chairs that Dumbledore had conjured, outside Madam Pomfrey's office, and Emma told them everything she had done. It started with her witnessing her mother's visions, and to her losing control on the first day, hitting Ron, and then progressed through the year. Every loss of control of emotions, every action she did that was out of character, and every cross word said.

Nobody interrupted her, not when she admitted pranking Draco, not even when she admitted trying to kill him. She explained how, over time, she had become more and more deceitful and cruel, but how, at the time, she hadn't noticed. Finally, when she finished off with disarming Harry, nearly killing him, and then actually killing the Basilisk, she went silent.

She didn't even make it a second before she burst into tears again. Hearing everything out loud really had made it worse, and she saw the horrible person she'd become.

Emma had been looking at Professor Dumbledore the entire time she'd been retelling her story, and now everyone else was too. His expression had changed at some point and was now nearly as stern as McGonagall's could be, though, surprisingly, she looked quite sad. Dumbledore had specifically said the first time they met in his office that she would always be welcome at Hogwarts so long as she wasn't a danger to anyone. She'd gone well beyond that.

'Well,' he said, gravely, looking around the audience. 'under normal circumstances, this would be more than enough grounds for expulsion.'

All of the others reacted in some way. McGonagall's lips trembled, Harry and Ron looked very uncomfortable, Madam Pomfrey lowered her head concerned, and Hermione was scared.

'Is that really necessary, headmaster?' asked McGonagall.

'I... understand.' sobbed Emma.

'However,' he said, his expression softening somewhat. 'you are not the only one at fault here.'

The others all looked around, confused.

'Poppy here warned me that this could be a side effect of your new diet, and here I find myself apologising, yet again, for my neglect.'

He continued to explain how he should have taken Madam Pomfrey's advice and changed Emma's food to human blood at the beginning of the year, and that while he understood Emma's reasons for being against it, it was clear that something had to be done.

'From next year, your diet will be changed, and in the meantime, we will increase the frequency of your feeding's to avoid any more issues.'

'So, she's not getting expelled?' asked Hermione, relieved.

'No, she will not.' he said, pausing. 'The two-hundred house points you received in your absence, Miss Pearson, however, will be revoked, for endangering the lives of others. You will be keeping the award for special services to the school as you did slay the Basilisk, and quite adeptly from what I hear.'

Dumbledore finally had a smile on his face, and even winked at Emma, which made her smile, just a little.

'But, Professor, I...' she said, confused.

Emma had really been expecting to be expelled, and she didn't think Dumbledore could be as forgiving as he was being.

'You feel ashamed of your actions, do you not?' he asked, soothingly, still smiling, and Emma nodded in response. 'Then I trust you will endeavour not to repeat them.'

'Yes, Professor.'

'Splendid.' he beamed. 'Then if we are done, I believe a feast is in order, to celebrate the return of those who were petrified. I'm glad to see you are well again, Miss Granger.'

Hermione blushed, and Harry and Ron looked happy. Emma on the other hand just groaned, it was another feast she was going to have to avoid, and Hermione laughed at her expression.

Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron all left the Hospital Wing then, and the boys started to head toward the common room, but Emma had something else she needed to do first.

'I have to apologise to Nephthys now.' she sulked.

'We'll come with you.' said Hermione, still holding Emma's hand. 'We haven't seen Hagrid since he got back.'

The boys agreed, and they all made their way down to Hagrid's hut. Once they were outside, Emma used the bird whistle she had been given to call Nephthys, but she never came, not until after they'd found Hagrid, sitting outside his hut with Fang.

The giant gave them all big hugs, particularly Harry and Hermione, and thanked them ever so much for solving the Chamber of Secrets problem, and getting him out of Azkaban. It must be a really horrible place for it to have affected Hagrid so much.

When Nephthys finally arrived, she landed on the same fence that they had parted ways on, and after very few words of apology, she flew right onto Emma's arm and pecked her really hard on the forehead, before rubbing her beak on her nose, affectionately. Clearly the bird missed Emma as much as she did, and Emma gave her a lot of fuss, while crying. She was surprised she still had any tears left, after all she'd shed today.

It was an exhausted Emma that followed the other three back up to the common room that afternoon. It had been a long day already, and it wasn't over yet. She knew she had to have a conversation with Hermione. She had been treating Emma like she was made of glass ever since they found her in the chamber, trying to be strong for her, but it was clear Hermione still wasn't comfortable around her, and neither was Harry or Ron. She wasn't surprised. Emma knew it would take time to mend her relationship with them. So much for trying to be a better friend to them this year.

She used putting Nephthys' cage in her dormitory as an excuse to talk to Hermione, alone.

'I know I've said this a lot today, but I am very sorry, for everything.' she said.

'I know you are,' replied Hermione, sitting down on Emma's bed and sighing. 'and I forgive you.'

'But...' said Emma, knowing she wasn't finished. 'Something is still bothering you, I can tell.'

Hermione nodded, but didn't say anything at first. When she did go to reply, she had to try to open her mouth three times before she was able to say what she felt.

'Why me?' she asked, quietly, before she started speed talking. 'I mean, I understand why you became distant, and crueller, I do, but why did you always lose control because of me? You tried to kill Draco, nearly succeeded too, just because he said he hoped I would die next.'

'Because you're my best friend.' said Emma, shrugging.

She hadn't given it much thought since Hermione mentioned it during their argument, nearly two months ago, and even remembering that the vampire desperately wanted revenge, she had no idea why. She could tell why it was bothering Hermione though. It didn't feel like an adequate answer.

'But you know that's not normal, right?' replied Hermione. 'People just don't go around trying to kill people who threaten their best friends. You don't see Harry doing that for Ron, do you?'

'Harry is a better person than me, you all are.'

'That's not true.' sighed Hermione. 'You're a great friend, when you're yourself, but I just don't understand why I have such an effect on you. You know Harry described your behaviour after I was petrified as _possessive_?'

'That was the vampire, not me.' said Emma, quickly and confused.

If Hermione was having trouble with the notion of Emma being possessive of her, it was nothing to how Emma felt. It didn't make any sense.

'As much as you don't want to admit it, Emma, you and the vampire are two sides of the same coin.'

'I know, really I do, now more than ever.' she said. 'But I don't know why I reacted the way I did, honestly. Maybe my stronger emotions are the cause?'

Emma knew she was reaching for straws, and Hermione narrowed her eyes. She was having trouble believing Emma, after all, it hadn't been as long for her since their argument as it had been for Emma.

'I promise I won't lie to you any more, Hermione, and I mean it this time.' she said, determined. 'I just hope you'll believe me, in time.'

She smiled at Hermione, hopeful, and after a moment, the smile was returned.

'I've missed you.' said Hermione, giving Emma a hug. 'The real you.'

The rest of the school year went by in a blur. Emma missed the feast, the one where almost everyone went in their pyjamas, where Gryffindor won the house cup due to Harry and Ron's four-hundred house points, and also the one where the exams were cancelled. Hermione was upset about that as she had planned to catch up on her month of being petrified, though she did it anyway, borrowing Harry and Ron's very lacklustre notes of the classes she and Emma missed.

Emma's friendship with Hermione improved somewhat over the remaining months before the summer holidays, though it was still far from where it was at the beginning of the year. Surprisingly, it returned to it's best when Hermione remembered that Emma still had fifteen house points to earn back. Having to stick her hand up in class was just as embarrassing as always, and again, Hermione was finding it funny. If that's what it took to mend things between them, she'd take it. Harry and Ron also treated Emma much better than before as well, but they too had their misgivings. Ron, in particular, would continuously flinch or twitch nervously whenever Emma made any sudden moves.

Emma and Hermione also made a friend in Ginny. The two of them had heard how she wrote in Tom's diary because she had no friends, and that her brothers kept picking on her, so they made an effort to include her when the boys weren't around. She was very nice and friendly, and really very headstrong, like all the Weasley's. She was not as bookish as Hermione or Emma, but they could tell she was happy to have someone to talk to.

Before the end of the year, Emma hazarded to ask Hermione whether she would be allowed to go back home with her again, to stay with her, Jane and Richard. She was worried she would have to live at the orphanage again, but didn't want to presume anything. She understood that Hermione might want some space.

'Of course you're staying with us.' said Hermione, rolling her eyes. 'Mum and Dad have already arranged it.'

'Oh.' said Emma, blinking. 'Thank you.'

'Mum might give you a lecture though. I told her everything.'

Emma nodded, ducking her head, ashamed. She'd almost forgotten Hermione had no secrets from her parents.

'And because we didn't go home for Christmas, they're going skiing this summer, but you don't have a passport,' said Hermione, looking uncomfortable. 'so, you will have to go back to the orphanage for a week.'

Again, Emma nodded, but this time she was sulking. 'Okay.'

When the year was finally over, everyone made their way to the Entrance Hall and out the front gates to the Thestral drawn carriages. Emma and Hermione noted how nobody else could see them, and it was creepy. Emma wondered why nobody ever walked into them, as if they knew the Thestrals were there, but couldn't comprehend them, similar to Emma's notice-me-not ability, but before she'd made up her mind, she was being pulled into a carriage by Hermione.

Once they were out and onto the train station platform at Hogsmeade, Emma quietly cast the feather-light charm on her trunk as well as Hermione's, who raised her eyebrow when her trunk suddenly felt a lot lighter.

'To surprise Richard.' grinned Emma and Hermione giggled, shaking her head.

They found a compartment, sharing it with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George, and the mood of the group was as light as it had been the previous year, maybe more so. Fred and George had felt really indebted to Harry after he'd saved Ginny, and since Harry had said how he couldn't have done it without Emma, they'd even been incredibly nice to her. It was probably the best moment Emma had had all year, particularly when she beat them all at exploding snap.

'Ginny,' asked Harry remembering something, just as the train was getting near London. 'what did you see Percy doing, that he didn't want you to tell anyone?'

'Oh, that.' said Ginny, giggling. 'Well – Percy's got a _girlfriend_.'

' _What?_ ' asked Fred, shocked, dropping his books on George's head.

'It's that Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater.' said Ginny. 'That's who he was writing to all last summer. He's been meeting her all over the school in secret. I walked in on them kissing in an empty classroom one day. He was so upset when she was – you know – attacked. You won't tease him, will you?'

She looked anxious as she knew more than anyone what Fred and George were like.

Emma wasn't surprised, she'd seen Percy and Penelope Clearwater together quite a lot on her map, but she had assumed they were just meeting because they were prefects.

'Wouldn't dream of it.' said Fred, smirking, clearly already planning ways to do it.

'Definitely not.' said George, sniggering.

Emma became nervous again when the train started to pull into the station. She was really fretting about meeting Richard and Jane again. They'd been really nice to her, and she was sure they still would be, but she wasn't looking forward to the lecture Hermione had warned her she'd be getting. Mrs Cole could shout and nag until she was blue in the face, but Emma knew she'd melt at the mere sight of disappointment from Jane.

Distracting her, Harry pulled out a quill and some parchment from his bag and quickly wrote some numbers on it, three times.

'This is called a telephone number.' he said to Ron, tearing the parchment and giving one each to Ron, Hermione and Emma. 'I told your dad how to use a telephone last summer, he'll know. Call me at the Dursleys, OK? I can't stand another two months with only Dudley to talk to...'

'Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?' asked Hermione, as they stepped off the train. 'When they hear what you did this year?'

'Proud?' he replied. 'Are you mad? All those times I could've died, and didn't manage it? They'll be furious!'

Emma and Hermione shook their heads. Hermione was confused because she didn't understand how his guardians could be so callous, but Emma was annoyed because she did. They parted ways after they had gone through the barrier at the station, and Emma and Hermione made their way to the Granger's, again, Emma pointing them out through the crowd before Hermione had spotted them.

If Emma was going to get a talking to, it seemed that it wouldn't be here, in public, because the two of them embraced her, after Hermione of course, as if she was their own daughter. After that, they made their way to the car, with Richard insisting on pulling the trunks. Hermione and Emma had to laugh when he went to grab the handle of one of them to raise it onto its wheels, and, overestimating its weight, lifted it right off the floor.

'Are these empty?' he asked, confused.

'It's a feather-light charm.' whispered Hermione in his ear so nobody overheard, before smirking. 'Emma's idea.'

'I thought it would be good to show you some of what we've learned at school.' said Emma, innocently, though she was smirking far too much to be believable.

She received three identical grins and eye-rolls, and they made their way to the car, and there ended another school year.

* * *

 _There we are. An end to another year, a fairly terrible year at that. I hope you all enjoyed it, and will be back for more in book 3._


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